“By stirring up anti-vaping hysteria, New Zealand’s Asthma and Respiratory Foundation will only send more minors back to smoking and put the country’s decade long Smokefree 2025 ambition in jeopardy,” says Nancy Loucas, executive coordinator of the Coalition of Asia Pacific Tobacco Harm Reduction Advocates (CAPHRA).
Loucas’ comments follow the Asthma and Respiratory Foundation (ARFNZ) launching a video series titled, “Spotlight on Vaping.” The campaign claims New Zealand is experiencing an “epidemic” of youth vaping. Together with the Secondary Principals’ Association of NZ (SPANZ), it also claims over a quarter of students have vaped in the past week.
“What these sensationalized numbers don’t take into account is, if 26 percent of school students had in fact vaped in the past week, many would only be trying it, and secondly, almost all of them would’ve been smoking deadly cigarettes a generation ago,” says Loucas.
CAPHRA says while smoking-related illnesses kill around 5,000 New Zealanders every year, vaping has not reportedly caused one death in the country. In fact, vaping been widely attributed for positively contributing to New Zealand’s plummeting smoking rate. The overall adult daily smoking rate has fallen from 18 percent in 2006/07 to 9.4 percent in 2020-2021.
“What ARFNZ fails to mention is [that] the 2021 ASH Year 10 Snapshot survey that they selectively refer to confirms that vaping is not hooking nonsmokers. In that survey, just 3 percent of those who vape daily have never smoked. What’s more, while many may try it, very few ever become regular vapers, particularly non-smoking students,” she says.
Loucas says while ARFNZ attract headlines by alleging a “youth vaping epidemic,” University of Auckland researchers in 2020 came to a different conclusion: “Our findings do not support the notion of a so-called vaping epidemic in New Zealand or a large youth population dependent on vaping,” the researchers wrote
“While no one wants youth vaping, we are not seeing an ‘epidemic’ as ARFNZ would have the public believe.
The attitude and actions of the next director-general of health will be key to New Zealand achieving its smokefree ambitions, says the Coalition of Asia Pacific Tobacco Harm Reduction Advocates (CAPHRA).
“This person could make or break Smokefree 2025. He or she advises the government, oversees regulation, and has the final say on new vape store licences. It’s an incredibly important position when it comes to New Zealand effectively addressing tobacco,” says Nancy Loucas, executive coordinator of the Coalition of Asia Pacific Tobacco Harm Advocates (CAPHRA).
Current Director-General of Health Ashley Bloomfield will leave the job in July, with his successor yet to be appointed.
Loucas says that while New Zealand’s Smokefree Environments and Regulated Products (Vaping) Amendment Act 2020 is viewed internationally as relatively progressive, there are some provisions that the next director-general should review.
“The act claims to strike a balance between ensuring vaping products are available to adult smokers while protecting young people. Sanctioning it as an R18 product has helped achieve that. However, banning the most popular flavours from general retail is only stopping adult smokers from quitting deadly tobacco,” she says.
Since August 11, 2021, general retailers such as supermarkets, service stations and convenience stores have been limited to just selling three flavors–mint, menthol and tobacco. Only licenced specialist vape stores can sell a full range of more popular flavours.
“The next Director-General of Health must review this restriction on general retail. By the time he or she takes office, the flavor ban would have run a year and many of us strongly believe it’s hindering not helping New Zealand achieve Smokefree 2025.
“Adult smokers desperate to quit can go to a supermarket and choose any brand of cigarette under the sun, yet they can only choose from three vape flavors. That’s not enabling them to make the best decision for their health nor is it helping New Zealand reduce its smoking rate,” says Loucas.
This person could make or break Smokefree 2025. He or she advises the government, oversees regulation, and has the final say on new vape store licences. It’s an incredibly important position when it comes to New Zealand effectively addressing tobacco.
With youth smoking at a historic low and 9.4 percent of adults now daily smoking, New Zealand’s goal of Smokefree 2025—where 5 percent or less of the general population smoke—is looking increasingly likely to be achieved.
CAPHRA says overall Bloomfield has been a supporter of New Zealand’s Tobacco Harm Reduction public health strategy. This has included approving and promoting messages on the ministry of health’s Vaping Facts website, which headlines “vaping is less harmful than smoking”—an approach that has been heavily supported across New Zealand’s health sector.
At the time, CAPHRA and other THR advocates raised concerns that vaping—a 95 percent less harmful alternative and New Zealand’s most effective smoking cessation tool—is largely absent from the government’s reinvigorated approach to stamping out smoking.
“The smokefree action plan makes tobacco less available and less appealing. It fails, however, to fully acknowledge the positive role vaping has played, and will play, in getting Kiwis off the cancer sticks. That’s a worry because we won’t get there without safer nicotine products,” she says.
CAPHRA says top of mind for the next director-general of health is that fact that over 5,000 Kiwis continue to die from smoking-related illnesses every year, and the job to reduce that is by no means done.
“The next director-general of health will need to keep a close eye on whether the government’s vaping regulations and Smokefree Aotearoa 2025 Action Plan are in fact delivering on their promise. With so many lives at stake, he or she will have no time to waste,” says Nancy Loucas.
Many countries continue to limit access or have outright banned vaping and e-cigarette products.
By Norm Bour
As much as we would like to think that vaping and the sale of vape products is universally accepted, that is not the case. The world has changed a lot over the past 10 years, and the medical community’s support has carried some weight, but old customs and rituals die hard. Here is an overview of where the status of vape remains iffy.
Turkey
You can use vape products where tobacco is permitted, but the Turkish government is vehemently anti-vape—regardless of the medical documentation that shows the advantages of vaping over combustible cigarettes. Since 2009, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has led the campaign against all tobacco products, including cigarettes, regardless of their popularity.
Turkey banned the import of e-cigarettes and related products on Feb. 25, 2020. The ban covers e-cigarettes, accessories, spare parts and solutions (e-liquids) as well as e-cigarette products that use heating or incineration, like electronic hookahs. The country had already banned the sale of electronic cigarettes.
Erdogan’s aggressive posture has resulted in the seizure of almost 18 million packs of cigarettes in 2020 and 140,000 e-cigarettes. The government offers a hotline for people to call and blow the whistle on illegal products, and 1,500 teams scour the country doing random inspections. For vapers, the online channel remains open, and there are many foreigners who vape in the street without concern.
India
With a population of 1.38 billion, India has banned vaping products since 2019. With an estimated 120 million people lighting up, India has the dubious honor of having 12 percent of the world’s cigarette smokers. The country loses about 1 million people per year to tobacco-related illnesses.
India’s aggressive anti-smoking posture has proven successful as the number of smokers has dropped significantly over the past 20 years. In 2000, it was estimated that one-third of the male population smoked, with 5.7 percent of the female population smoking. A decade later, those numbers had dropped to 23 percent for men and 2.5 percent for women. Currently, an estimated 14 percent of the country’s population smokes.
With a 28 percent luxury tax on tobacco, there are huge incentives to quitting smoking in India. The bad news is that vaping products are lumped into the tobacco pile, but evidence for the relative safety of e-cigarettes is gaining ground. The anti-vape campaign was geared toward the young smokers, but there may be light at the end of this tunnel.
Under the guise of preventing potential health risks to the country’s youth, India banned the “import, manufacture, sale, advertisement, storage and distribution” of e-cigarettes in September 2019. However, according to Research and Markets, the Indian e-cigarette market reached a value of $7.8 million in 2018, and it is further predicted to witness a CAGR of 26.4 percent during the forecast period (2019-2024) even with the ban in place.
There is very little regulatory enforcement for vaping products in India. Vaping products are even being displayed on some store shelves. A few of the biggest paanwalas in the cosmopolitan cities reportedly sell Juul and other high-end hardware. It’s not plainly obvious everywhere, and the specialist “vape only” vendors are all clandestine, according to several sources. Most of the specialists are discerning and do not entertain new customers without a reference from a known customer.
Australia and New Zealand
Australia has been a teeter-totter in terms of vapor regulations. In October of 2021, it declared all nicotine products illegal without a doctor’s prescription. The prescription is intended only for the patient and may not be shared or sold. The sole light at the end of this this tunnel is that nicotine- free products are excluded from this heavy-handed ban.
Devices and liquids can be sold in all eight territories, though advertising and promotion is legal in some but illegal in others. Spotty monitoring and enforcement have resulted in a lively online trade in vapor products.
Compared to many countries, the perceived “problems” of youth smoking are modest with percentages of vapers and smokers under 20 percent among different age groups. According to 2021 research from the Australian National University, about 16 percent of current e-cigarette users in Australia are non-smokers who have never inhaled tobacco, while the remaining third are ex-smokers. There are about 400,000 e-cigarette users in Australia.
While often lumped in with Australia by outsiders, New Zealand has followed its own, more reasonable, path in vapor regulation. The small island country of just 5 million people estimates that 11.6 percent of its population smokes. Its priority is on reducing underage vaping and smoking.
The Middle East
Excluding the North African countries sometimes included in the Middle East, this part of the world is home to almost 0.5 billion people and encompasses about 20 percent of the Muslim world. While Islam frowns on tobacco use, many Muslim countries have high smoking rates. While tobacco use has been grudgingly tolerated, vaping was initially disdained, with some countries banning the practice. That is changing, as was evidenced in September 2021 when the World Vape Show was held in Dubai, which has now legalized vaping.
Tim Phillips, managing director of ECigIntelligence, says the United Arab Emirates is leading the Middle East in vape product sales and access, but considering it started from scratch, the numbers are still small. As tobacco-oriented as this part of the world is, buyers prefer flavored liquids with three out of four sales being sweeter fruit flavors followed by menthol flavors.
Across the Middle East, the rules are in constant flux. Currently, Kuwait, Jordan, Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Bahrain offer legalized vape, but Qatar and Oman do not. Market intelligence company Mordor Intelligence projects a growth rate of almost 10 percent through 2025 in the regional vapor market.
In late 2020, a Euromonitor International study found only a very small minority of smokers used e-cigarettes to quit smoking in the Middle East region. Analysts found just 1.8 percent of smokers in the region took up alternatives to conventional cigarettes in 2020. The figure is up from 1.4 percent in 2017 but it remains significantly low when compared to other parts of the world.
South America/Latin America
On the other side of the globe, South America’s 433 million people also face an ever-changing landscape of vaping laws. The largest country, Brazil, allows vaping, with some restrictions in enclosed areas. Sales are highly regulated by the Health Surveillance Agency, which closely monitors underage sales, though enforcement of sales and production is weak.
No. 2 by population, Argentina has banned vaping for a decade and shows no sign of changing its policy. The ban extends to nicotine-free products, and there are virtually no sales, production or importation of e-cigarettes. Ironically, Argentina reportedly accounts for as much as 15 percent of total tobacco consumption in South America.
Contrary to some of its neighbors, Peru has been open-minded about vaping—to the point where the government appears to turn a blind eye to the practice. With an estimated 2.3 million smokers—just under 10 percent of the population—Peru has no official numbers on the vapers and vape products. It seems the country has higher priorities and has decided to leave vapers alone.
According to Mordor Intelligence, as enforcement of e-cigarette laws are often open to local authorities, vape shops are often found in places where they are technically illegal in the region. In the entire region only five countries allow the legal sale of e-cigarettes: Chile, Ecuador, Honduras, Paraguay, and Costa Rica.
Following the recent enactment of smoke-free laws in Paraguay, every South American country has now banned vaping and smoking in most public places. Under Decree No. 4624, approved by Paraguay’s presidency on Dec. 29, consuming lit, heated, or electronic tobacco products is permitted only in uncrowded open air public spaces that are not transit areas for nonsmokers.
Norm Bour is the founder of VapeMentors and works with vape businesses worldwide. He can be reached at norm@VapeMentors.com
Thousands of vaping products in New Zealand started being removed from store shelves Friday as new regulations on packaging come into effect.
The move is part of the amended Smokefree Vaping Act rolled out 15 months ago, which includes it only being legal to sell vape products registered with the Ministry of Health, according to 1News.
Action for Smokefree 2025 director Deborah Hart on Friday told Breakfast the new regulations mean manufacturers need to be more transparent about what’s in their products.
“The Government has been rolling out regulations right from the very start of the (Smokefree Environments and Regulated Products) Act. So from the start of the Act until today, one of the things we’ve been doing is around the safety of the product,” she said.
“Six months ago importers and manufacturers had to start notifying what was in their products – had to notify labels, packaging and what’s in the products.
“And today they had to do all that, they can only sell what’s been notified, and to notify they had to adhere to the safety regime that had been set up by the Government. So that’s fantastic.”
Vaping activists have welcomed New Zealand’s new “smoke-free” law, which they say strikes a balance between ensuring that safe, good-quality products are readily available for adult smokers while minimizing appeal to young people.
According to the U.K. Vaping Industry Association (UKVIA), New Zealand’s Smoke-free Environments and Regulated Products (vaping) Amendment Bill is “a breath of fresh air.”
“New Zealand has taken a huge leap forward in its efforts toward a smoke-free society in a move that brings its laws on vaping in line with the U.K.’s—and in many ways surpasses them,” the UKVIA wrote in a statement. “Not only does this move pave the way for many more smokers to be able to access vaping products with confidence, [but] it also puts its near neighbor Australia’s vaping policies to shame.”
In Australia, nicotine e-liquid is regulated like tobacco. However, the New Zealand government views vaping as a safer alternative to smoking and allows retailers to provide the following messages: “Completely replacing your cigarette with a vape will reduce harm to your health” and “If you smoke, switching completely to vaping is a much less harmful option.”
Among other provisions, New Zealand’s new legislation requires manufacturers to notify health authorities that a product has met the safety and quality standards before it can be sold; sets nicotine limits at 20 mg/mL for freebase nicotine and 50 mg/mL for nicotine salt products; and limits container sizes to 120 mL and requires them to be protected against breakage, leakage, spilling and have child-resistant closures.
In addition, the law sets a minimum sales age of 18 and restricts retail outlets to sell only tobacco, mint or menthol e-liquids. Vape shops, by contrast, will be allowed to sell a range of flavored products.
“We applaud New Zealand’s bold and brave approach to vaping, now enshrined into law, and can only encourage Australia and other countries with regressive, anti-harm reduction attitudes toward vaping to look again at the enormous role vaping can play in helping smokers to give up combustible tobacco for good,” the UKVIA wrote.
In the UK, the National Health Services (NHS) is trialing a program that will provide some smokers who are admitted to emergency departments free vaping starter kits and instruction on how to use them. This is in combination with ongoing quit-smoking support. Now, a group of vapor advocates in New Zealand wants its country’s Budget 2021 to supercharge already established smoking cessation programs by adopting the UK plan.
“Our Government is now determined to get Smokefree 2025 back on track. Budget Day on 20 May is the first opportunity to put its money where its mouth is. Our District Health Boards and Maori health organizations have had huge success with switching smokers into vapers. It’s time for the Government to back them more,” says Nancy Loucas, co-director of Aotearoa Vapers Community Advocacy (AVCA), in a recent statement.
Credit: Gustavo Frazeo
Public Health England has repeatedly endorsed vaping and has never wavered from its scientific conclusion that it’s 95 percent less harmful than smoking. Recently, a new Cochrane review reinforces the effective role vaping plays in reducing smoking rates across the globe. Based in the UK, Cochrane is an independent network, involving 130 countries, health professionals, and researchers. With the strategic goal of putting Cochrane evidence at the heart of health decision-making all over the world, it represents the gold standard for high quality, trusted health information, according to a statement.
Titled “Electronic cigarettes for smoking cessation (Review),” the Cochrane Library researchers reviewed 56 international studies, involving 12,804 adults who smoked. The study concluded that e-cigarettes could increase the number of people who stop smoking compared to other forms of nicotine replacement therapy, such as chewing gum and patches.
It comes as a Georgetown University-led study published in the journal Population Health Metrics concludes that nicotine vaping in the US could help prevent 1.8 million premature deaths and see 38.9 million life-years gained in a span of 47 years. “Health officials in the UK believe tens of thousands of Brits stop smoking every year after switching to vaping. In fact, latest PHE estimates show that around 2.7 million adults now vape in England alone, compared to nearly seven million who smoke tobacco,” says Loucas. “What has happened over in the UK over the past decade is an impressive story. It’s one our Government needs to investigate if it is serious about rebooting New Zealand’s 2011 ambition of being smoke-free by 2025.”
A New Zealand vaping advocacy group says that the government spending over $1.6 million on its Vape to QuitStrong campaign is proof New Zealand’s leaders believe vaping is the most effective smoking cessation tool. “It’s now urgent that belief is also reflected in the country’s final vaping regulations and smokefree action plan, says a leading tobacco harm reduction advocate,” the Aotearoa Vapers Community Advocacy (AVCA) states in a release. “Official information released shows the Ministry of Health has funded a budget of $1,670,000 for the Vape to QuitStrong campaign between the 2019/2020 and 2021/2022 financial years.”
Credit: Stock Snap
The total budget for the campaign includes strategy development, creative development, media placement, agency fees, and an allowance for operational costs. “After some delays while last year’s vaping legislation was passed, it’s great the Vape to QuitStrong campaign was launched a few weeks ago. It has made a good splash on the likes of primetime television and radio, with poster and bus shelter campaigns in communities with a high smoking prevalence,” says Nancy Loucas, co-director of AVCA.
Available on its website, the Ministry’s business case for the current campaign puts a strong focus on young Māori women who remain disproportionately represented in New Zealand’s smoking rates. “The Ministry of Health makes it very clear that vaping products can make a real contribution to the Smokefree 2025 goal as well as disrupt significant inequities. Subsequently, the Ministry confirms that Vape to QuitStrong centres on a behavioural change campaign that will support young Māori women to successfully switch to vaping,” she says.
As well as supporting smokers to switch to vaping and stop smoking completely, the business case says a successful campaign will be defined by ‘reducing inequalities in smoking prevalence, particularly between Māori and non-Māori… and enable health practitioners, smokers and the broader community to better understand that vaping is significantly less harmful than smoking.
However, AVCA is concerned that despite over $1.6 million of taxpayers’ money being spent on the Vape to QuitStrong’ campaign, the Government’s latest Smokefree 2025 reboot and its pending vaping regulations will both overlook the key role vaping can play in getting more Kiwis off deadly cigarettes.
“Good on the Ministry of Health and the Health Promotion Agency on its work with Māori to deliver a campaign that they all know will be effective. These same people now just need to feed their extensive knowledge into the Government’s proposals for the Smokefree Aotearoa 2025 Action Plan as well as the final vaping regulations which will be signed off by Cabinet by the end of June. Otherwise, the best opportunities we have to free our at-risk communities from tobacco will be squandered,” says Loucas.
Proposed vaping regulations are now open for public comment in New Zealand. The country’s Ministry of Health is encouraging New Zealanders to have their say and provide feedback on draft regulations for electronic nicotine delivery systems (ENDS) under the Smokefree Environments and Regulated Products Act. The online consultation opens today.
Credit: govt.nz
An amendment to the Smokefree Environments and Regulated Products Act 1990 (the Act) commenced on 11 November 2020. “The amendment means that vaping products are now controlled in a similar way to tobacco products,” Jane Chambers, group manager at the Ministry of Health, said in a press release. “However, new regulations are required to fully deliver the changes sought by the Government and to support the right settings for the legislation.”
The health agency is seeking public feedback on the draft regulations because “if we want to get it right, it’s important everyone has a chance to have their say.” Feedback is expected to help shape the final regulations.
“The proposed regulations cover a range of areas including the display of vaping products in retail stores and websites; the use of harm reduction statements in retail stores and websites; the display of R18 notices at vaping points of sale; packaging requirements for vaping products; and the responsibilities of manufacturers and importers who intend to sell vaping products or smokeless tobacco products.
“I encourage people to read the draft regulations and provide feedback using the online tool or download the feedback form and email it to vaping@health.govt.nz.
“This consultation is an important step towards better supporting smokers to switch to regulated products that are less harmful than smoking and to protect children, young people and non-smokers from the risks associated with vaping and smokeless tobacco products,” Chambers said.
The consultation closes at 5pm on March 15, 2021. The final regulations will be announced sometime after the close of consultation. It is expected they will take effect in August 2021, with anonymous submissions published on the Ministry of Health website.
Vaping in workplaces, around schools and childcare centers and on public transport is now illegal for Kiwis. New Zealand passed the Smokefree Environments and Regulated Products (Vaping) Amendment Act in August, with restrictions to be phased in over a 15-month period.
The first raft of measures, which began on Wednesday, Nov. 11, prohibit the use of e-cigarettes in workplaces, schools, early childhood education and care centers, according to an article in The Daily Mail.
Nancy Loucas, Director of Aotearoa Vapers Community Advocacy (AVCA), encouraged New Zealand’s 200,000 vapers “to think a little more” before they vape.
“The general rule is if you wouldn’t smoke there, you shouldn’t vape there,” she said. “The likes of shopping malls, and around schools and childcare centres are a no no. At the same time, many councils have made their outdoor city centre areas and council parks vape-free as well.”
New Zealand’s new act also prohibits advertising and sponsorship related to vaping products. But the AVCA is concerned treating vaping like smoking will lead to further stigmatisation.
“Employers will still be able to permit vaping in a company vehicle, with some very workable provisions in place,” Loucas said. “Patients in hospital care or rest home residents can vape within a dedicated room for vaping, provided there is the likes of adequate ventilation. At the same time, a good employer would dedicate an outside area to vaping, where employees feel comfortable taking a vape break. Vaping is now effectively banned where smoking is, but it’s by no means banned outright. Instead, it’s finally a totally legalised activity for New Zealand adults, albeit now more tightly regulated.”
In Western Australia, owners and managers of venues may choose to implement a policy applying to their premises which prohibits the use of e-cigarettes wherever smoking is prohibited.
Voters in New Zealand narrowly rejected an effort to legalize recreational marijuana, according to official referendum results released on Friday. Only 48.4 percent the country voted in favor of legalization, the New Zealand Electoral Commission said.
The figure for those opposed to recreational pot narrowed from the 53.1 percent recorded in preliminary data released last week, but still maintained a slim majority, according to an article in the Daily Mail.
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, who voted in favor of the proposal, has vowed to honor the results of the vote, meaning the cannabis issue is unlikely to be revisited in her current term of office.
However, the closeness of the vote will encourage reform advocates, who argue that disadvantaged groups such as the Maori community are disproportionately targeted under current laws.
The dual referendums were held on October 17, alongside the general election that returned Ardern to power with a landslide majority. Earlier this year, New Zealand banned flavored vapor products.
Ardern did not disclose her position on the recreational cannabis debate during the election campaign, although the 40-year-old did admit to smoking marijuana “a long time ago”.
Advocates of the bid to legalize cannabis expressed disappointment that the Kiwi premier did not reveal her support for the bill until after the vote.
“By stirring up anti-vaping hysteria, New Zealand’s Asthma and Respiratory Foundation will only send more minors back to smoking and put the country’s decade long Smokefree 2025 ambition in jeopardy,” says Nancy Loucas, executive coordinator of the Coalition of Asia Pacific Tobacco Harm Reduction Advocates (CAPHRA).
Excluding the North African countries sometimes included in the Middle East, this part of the world is home to almost 0.5 billion people and encompasses about 20 percent of the Muslim world. While Islam frowns on tobacco use, many Muslim countries have high smoking rates. While tobacco use has been grudgingly tolerated, vaping was initially disdained, with some countries banning the practice. That is changing, as was evidenced in September 2021 when the World Vape Show was held in Dubai, which has now legalized vaping.
On the other side of the globe, South America’s 433 million people also face an ever-changing landscape of vaping laws. The largest country, Brazil, allows vaping, with some restrictions in enclosed areas. Sales are highly regulated by the Health Surveillance Agency, which closely monitors underage sales, though enforcement of sales and production is weak.
