Sasha Borissenko: Youth taking up vaping faster than the speed of regulatory light

Health groups have been upset by changes to the Smokefree Amendment Bill. Photo / 123rf

OPINION

Public health experts have been screaming bloody murder over the introduction of the Smokefree Amendment Bill last month.

World Health Organisation advice be damned, the coalition government muttered, saying it was committed to the Smokefree 2025 goal but would be taking a different approach.

Namely, Labour’s plans to reduce the number of retailers allowed to sell nicotine, reducing nicotine in tobacco products, and banning the sale of tobacco to anyone born after January 1, 2009, will be scrapped.

“In the last three years, 229,000 people have stopped smoking, with vaping playing a key role,” Associate Health Minister Casey Costello said in a statement. The quit rates for young people – 41.5 per cent – were more impressive, she said.

The vaping elephant in the room

There’s a fine line between offering vaping as a solution to smoking and indirectly promoting vaping to people, particularly youths, in the process.

Latest NZ Health Survey results show daily vaping increased from 2.6 per cent in 2017/2018 to 9.7 per cent for people aged 15 years or more. For the 2022/2023 period, daily vaping was highest among youths aged 18-24 (25.2 per cent).

There’s no data relating to primary school children, but Official Information Act data suggests 377 kids were stood down in 2020, which increased to 1945 last year.

Public health researcher Janet Hoek told me although officials allowed the sale of vaping products believing it was the lesser of two evils, a regulatory loophole offered manufacturers the chance to aggressively target youth by positioning vaping as a lifestyle accessory.

By loophole, Hoek was referring to a case in 2018.

The District Court rejected a claim by the Ministry of Health that global tobacco giant Phillip Morris breached the Smokefree Environments and Regulated Products Act 1990 through the distribution of HEETS, one of the first electronic cigarettes of its time. The legislation prohibited chewing and oral use, but wasn’t designed to accommodate the vaping frenzy that we have today.

In a statement at the time, Phillip Morris NZ general manager Jason Erickson said it welcomed the court’s decision. “The case does, however, highlight the need for urgent reform of regulations surrounding e-cigarettes and other smokeless tobacco products.”

Two years later, the Smokefree Environments and Regulated Products (Vaping) Amendment Act 2020 was born. It introduced the first product safety standards, prohibited the sale of vapes to people under 18, and banned smoking and vaping in workplaces, restaurants and bars.

There’s been a suite of moves since, including regulations in 2021 to reduce nicotine concentration levels.

At the time, vaping manufacturing, import, and retail companies Alt NZ, VEC Ltd, and Myriad Pharmaceuticals unsuccessfully sought a judicial review, saying the changes were irrational, unreasonable, and outside of the Director General of Health’s scope. Justice Peter Churchman released his High Court decision last December.

Phillip Morris weighed in too, by trying and failing to access information relating to the case. It argued that in the interests of open justice, access to evidence should be granted as regulatory changes directly affected its business.

What about the kids?

Cue the smokefree environments and regulated products amendments of last year that introduced new labelling and removeable battery requirements, child safety mechanisms, and further nicotine concentration limits.

The regulations prohibited new specialist retailers from selling products within 300m of schools, but there are already 1261 specialist retailers and approximately 5760 general vape retailers throughout the country.

In theory, advertising of vaping products is illegal with the exception retailers can “communicate” to existing customers. But a New Zealand study released in February revealed links between marketing techniques and vape use, where half of youths aged 14-20 were exposed to digital vape marketing.

In fairness, the Vaping Industry Association (VIANZ) says vaping should be limited to people over the age of 18.

“VIANZ is so adamant about this that we ask the public to report stores who sell to youth or anyone, whether a member or not, who targets youth through illegal marketing,” it said in a statement.

As it stands, come March 21, vaping retailers, manufacturers, importers, and distributors won’t be allowed to sell vapes with images of cartoons and toys. Appealing flavours such as cotton candy, fairy floss, and other non-generic names are also a no-go.

What’s more, associate minister Casey Costello has promised to increase vaping regulations to prohibit access among youth.

There’s been no mention of increasing enforcement measures, moves to track data among primary school students, or reducing the number of vaping retailers altogether. For now, it’s a case of wait and see.