The Smokefree Environments and Regulated Products (Vaping) Amendment Bill proposes a raft of new restrictions. Photo / File
The Smokefree Environments and Regulated Products (Vaping) Amendment Bill proposes a raft of new restrictions. Photo / File
Rotorua dairy owners worry their best-selling vape flavours will be taken off their shelves under proposed laws.
If passed, the Smokefree Environments and Regulated Products (Vaping) Amendment Bill will restrict the sale of flavours besides tobacco, mint and menthol.
The bill would also place age restrictions on the sale ofvaping products and tighten rules about vaping products' packaging, advertising and sponsorship and safety requirements.
The Smokefree Environments and Regulated Products (Vaping) Amendment Bill proposes a raft of new restrictions. Photo / File
The Health Select Committee has published submissions on the bill after it was presented to Parliament earlier this year.
Shonit Chandra from Fenton Park Dairy wrote a submission saying mango and berry were his best-selling vaping flavours.
It said tobacco and cigarette sales were "a cornerstone" of the business, but he felt he was supporting customers to switch to vaping, by stocking vaping flavours.
"This keeps them buying products from my shop and not vape specialty stores."
David Davies from Gull Edmund Rd Auto Mart wrote a submission and said berry and mango flavours were his most popular flavours too.
"With wages going up and disruption from Covid-19 moving forward, we will need new products to help grow our business," he wrote.
"Please could you consider not restricting flavour sales in general stores but instead focus on regulating advertising and liquid ingredients?"
Springfield Superette owner Raj Kumar, who is also an elected member of the Rotorua Lakes Council, also made a submission.
Springfield Superette owner Raj Kumar, who is also an elected member of the Rotorua Lakes Council. Photo / File
It objected to the potential flavour restrictions, "while unregulated vape stores selling adult sex toys, meth pipes and drug paraphernalia are given the green light to open anywhere and are handed the vast majority of future vaping business".
"This is unfair to me and my existing business," he wrote.
Rotorua woman Aria Aani Moore used vaping to quit smoking five years ago.
She now works in a vape store and works closely with a smoking cessation group.
She wrote a submission saying: "Vaping has helped thousands of New Zealanders already give up cigarettes permanently and has also meant that they can hand on advice and knowledge to others."
Moore said vaping helped bring New Zealand closer to a smokefree 2025, in her submission.
She did not think it was appropriate to vape in areas around children such as schools, playgrounds and local swimming pools.
She wrote that vaping should be allowed in designated areas at pubs and restaurants but it would be best if vapers were not "designated to areas that smokers are lumped in".
Toi Te Ora, the public health unit for the Bay of Plenty and Lakes DHBs, made a submission largely supporting the bill.
"This legislation is urgently needed. We would like to see the draft legislation strengthened to better protect young people from becoming addicted to nicotine through vaping."
The unit's submission said it was "interested in the potential for vaping and smokeless tobacco products to help adults to quit smoking" but there was "emerging evidence about the risks to non-smokers and young people".
"These include: the potential for nicotine addiction and the impact of nicotine itself on cognitive development in children and young people, the increased risk that non-smokers who vape will begin to smoke conventional cigarettes, respiratory and cardiovascular health impact, and the need to protect people from the as-yet-unknown long-term impacts of using these products."
It said vaping products should be "restricted to R18 specialist vape shops and pharmacies, and through smoking cessation services" and removed from "generic retailers such as dairies, petrol stations and supermarkets".
The unit suggested the bill be strengthened to stop people buying the regulated products on behalf of minors.
It also wrote: "online sales and marketing to children and young people need to be addressed".
Toi Te Ora said there was "good evidence that many people experience barriers to using vaping to quit".
"All retailers must provide their staff with accredited training in smoking cessation so that good-quality advice can be provided ... proper technical and personal support is needed. This could include online or telephone support."
It also wrote that the bill should "explicitly disallow vaping in vehicles with children under 18 years of age".
The Health Select Committee's report on submission is due by June 2.
