New Zealand is cracking down on youth vaping, with new rules to try to curb growing numbers of teens taking up the habit.
The government announced on Tuesday it would be banning most disposable vapes, not allowing new vape shops near schools and enforcing generic flavour descriptions – so more evocative descriptors like “strawberry jelly doughnut” would become “berry”.
The number of teenagers vaping in New Zealand has risen dramatically over the past five years, even as cigarette smoking dropped to its lowest-ever levels. According to data released last year, New Zealand’s smoking prevalence had dropped to 8% – one of the lowest in the world – but the rise in daily vape users was larger than the drop in daily smokers.
The number of year 10 students – about 14 years old – who vaped daily had tripled, from 3.1% in 2019 to 9.6% in 2021.
“Too many young people are vaping, which is why we’re making a number of moves to stop that happening,” the health minister, Dr Ayesha Verrall, said on Tuesday.
“We need to strike a balance between preventing young people from starting to vape, at the same time as having vapes available as a cessation tool for those who genuinely want to give up smoking.”
The new rules will come into place in August, and mean all vaping devices sold in New Zealand will need to have removable or replaceable batteries – a move that Verrall said limits the sale of cheap disposable vapes that are popular among young people.
“We also want vapes as far from the minds and reach of children and young people as possible, so any locations within 300 metres of schools and marae [Māori meeting houses] will be off-limits for new shops,” she said.
When vapes were first introduced in New Zealand, they were widely available to teenagers. Government reforms introduced in 2020 banned sales to under-18s, prohibited vaping at schools and early childhood centres and prohibited vape advertising and sponsorship.
Some other countries including Australia have taken tougher steps on vaping, making them prescription-only, reducing nicotine content, restricting flavours and introducing plain packaging. Verrall said New Zealand had not taken harder-line steps because they could make it harder for those taking up vaping as a smoking-cessation tool.
“New Zealand has some of the most ambitious tobacco control goals in the world,” she said. “I’m not saying vapes are good for you, but they’re far, far less harmful than tobacco.”
“We certainly hope it will stop and reverse the increase [of] young people vaping.”
