Vaping ‘Report Card’ For Government Reveals Average Grades

As
thousands of parents comb through their children’s Term 1
report cards, the Asthma and Respiratory Foundation NZ has
given the Government its very own.

The Foundation
reviewed its vaping regulation recommendations against
current laws and policies and found that the Government
still has significant areas for improvement to address the
youth vaping epidemic.

Foundation Chief Executive Ms
Letitia Harding says the government needs to engage with and
listen to specialists outside of the Ministry of Health when
it comes to vaping and protecting the health and well-being
of our rangatahi.

“We’ve just been through a
pandemic – protecting lung and heart health should be an
absolute priority for the Government.

“1 in 7 Kiwis
suffer from a respiratory condition, and 1 in 5 high school
students regularly vape, you don’t have to be a
mathematician to see that we are on the cusp of a serious
future health crisis.”

Since 2017 the Foundation has
been advocating for evidence-based vaping
regulations.

Recommendations included limiting
nicotine content in all vapes to 20mg/ml, banning all
disposable vapes, banning front-of-window advertising and
product displays, preventing the sale of vapes within a 1km
radius of schools, investing in vaping education for youth,
halting the further establishment of Specialist Vape
Retailers (SVRs), and investing in quit-vaping support
services for rangatahi.

So how have the last seven
years stacked up?

To date, the Government
has banned all disposable vapes (although not effective
until October 2024) and has restricted the sale of vapes by
an SVR within 300 metres of schools and marae. Dairies and
supermarkets, however, are not restricted by
proximity.

“While we give the Government
credit where it is due, it has been slow, and there is still
a lot of work to be done,” Ms Harding says.

“We need
to do more to protect our most vulnerable, our rangatahi,
and – at the moment – there seems to be a foot on the
brake.”

The Foundation often hears stories of children
– some as young as six – becoming addicted to vaping, Ms
Harding says.

“This is proof that our youth vaping
epidemic is not going away anytime soon, so we need to fight
to do everything we can to protect the health of our next
generation.

“We need commitment from the Government to
stop any more SVRs, actually monitor all vape retailers with
boots on the ground, and enforce harsher penalties for those
retailers who are still flouting the rules.”

This
Government has an opportunity to make bold immediate moves
to help tackle the youth vaping issue, she says.

“But,
first, we need them to listen and pay attention to those who
have been giving the same evidence-based advice since
2017.”

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