Politicians can expect more pressure from health and iwi organisations as calls to tackle the growth of vaping increase in volume.
New Zealand health organisations are backing a World Health Organisation push to remove flavours from nicotine products, saying sweet, fruity, confectionery-style flavours are undermining efforts to protect young people from addiction and disease.
Kia Manawanui Trust – The Heart of Aotearoa and the Asthma and Respiratory Foundation NZ have welcomed the call, which comes amid growing concern about the impact vaping can have on both respiratory and cardiovascular health.
The News reported last week that Te Tiratū Iwi Māori Partnership Board – which takes in Waikato, Hauraki, Maniapoto, Raukawa and Ngāti Haua – want commercial vape sales banned. This week the board told the news it supported stronger national and international action to reduce the appeal and availability of flavoured nicotine products.
“Vaping is not a neutral consumer product. It is a highly engineered nicotine delivery system that has been normalised through marketing strategies that deliberately increase appeal to young people. This includes the use of bright packaging, lifestyle branding, and a wide range of sweet and confectionery-style flavours,” the partnership board said.
“Removing or significantly restricting flavours is a logical and evidence-based step in reducing that appeal particularly for rangatahi Māori. Our position is that vaping products should not be designed, marketed, or sold in ways that attract young people.”
The World Health Organisation says flavours such as bubble gum, cotton candy and menthol help drive nicotine addiction among young people by masking the harshness of tobacco and nicotine products and making them more appealing to experiment with.
Belgium, Denmark and Lithuania have restricted flavoured nicotine products.
Asthma and Respiratory Foundation chief Letitia Harding said flavours had become one of the industry’s most effective tools for attracting young people to products that carry health risks.
“These products are being marketed as fun, colourful and harmless, but that’s not what the evidence tells us.”
She said research has found some flavouring used in e-cigarettes can damage blood vessel cells and disrupt normal heart rhythms. Other studies have linked vaping to airway inflammation, respiratory symptoms and reduced lung function
