NZ Politicians Given Ecig Policy Options
New Zealand’s Ministry of Health releases a confidential report on the science regarding electronic cigarettes and the options available for future legislation.
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by Dave Cross
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Sam Lotu-Iiga spoke to open the New Zealand symposium on e-cigarettes held in March 2015. At it he listened to evidence from experts and stakeholders about vaping in the country and the part the have to play in helping New Zealand become a smoke-free nation by 2025. The opening speech confirmed that the data predicts the target will not be achieved if the nation continues with its current approaches. The door was opened to legalizing nicotine for eliquids and the government walked through it.
So now vaping has taken a massive step forward, what is his position and proposals for the future?
In the paper, Sam Lotu-Iiga refers to vaping as still being a “relatively new and evolving product.” It illustrates why the government is in charge of the “confusing” legal status and why “laws are not routinely enforced because of the lack of clarity”.
While he writes “the risks and benefits of e-cigarettes are uncertain” the document does go on to cite supportive studies. It means that the minister is suggesting a small step forward from their precautionary principle approach: “I therefore propose to clarify the legal position so that all e-cigarettes (with and without nicotine) are available for sale and supply lawfully in New Zealand, but that sale is restricted to people 18 and over, that advertising of e-cigarettes is restricted, and that the use of ecigarettes is prohibited in smoke-free places.”
Sam Lotu-Iiga’s uncertainty over the risks and benefits means that he goes on to suggest that the government should look into considering extending other tobacco controls to vape products in order to guarantee safety and consistency of quality.
It’s unfortunate given that he states: “The scientific consensus is that the use of e-cigarettes is less harmful for smokers than continuing to smoke, and that short-term use is associated with few adverse effects. Vapers often report they vape because they want to reduce the harm from smoking tobacco.”
Unfortunate because the only studies cited as evidence include the one from Public Health England, Nicotine Without Smoke by the Royal College of Physicians and the previous Cochrane review ( now superseded by the update we covered last week).
“In summary,” he writes, “there is emerging evidence that, if smokers switch completely to e-cigarettes, these products are a significant harm reduction tool” which means they should be welcoming vaping with open arms. But they won’t be because he posits there “there is not yet enough data to assess the role of e-cigarettes as a smoking cessation tool.”
New Zealand are to be commended for moving forward on the topic of vaping, it is a shame they don’t embrace the recommendations of the three reports they use as evidence. Instead Sam Lotu-Iiga falls back to the nonsense coming from the states regarding flavours.
Dave Cross
Journalist at POTVDave is a freelance writer; with articles on music, motorbikes, football, pop-science, vaping and tobacco harm reduction in Sounds, Melody Maker, UBG, AWoL, Bike, When Saturday Comes, Vape News Magazine, and syndicated across the Johnston Press group. He was published in an anthology of “Greatest Football Writing”, but still believes this was a mistake. Dave contributes sketches to comedy shows and used to co-host a radio sketch show. He’s worked with numerous start-ups to develop content for their websites.
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