New Zealand’s health minister Dr. Ayesha Verrall said the country is not taking harder-line steps against vapes because it would make it harder for those taking up vaping as a smoking cessation tool. Photo credit: New Zealand Parliament.
New Zealand will be banning most disposable vapes starting this November in an effort to control youth vaping. The ban is part of a set of new rules that include not allowing new vape shops within 300 meters of schools and enforcing generic flavor descriptions. The new rules will come into effect in August.
In addition to the ban on disposable or single-use vapes starting in November, reusable vapes cannot be sold from March. Vapes sold after March would have to include removeable or replaceable batteries.
However, health minister Dr. Ayesha Verrall remains confident that vaping plays an important role in allowing the country to achieve its target of being smoke-free by 2025 and is defending not going further to make vapes more difficult to access, saying they were vital in helping people quit smoking.
“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,” she said.
According to Verrall, vapes would also need "child-safety mechanisms" like buttons that make them more difficult to use, and flavor names like "cotton candy" and "strawberry jelly donut" would be modified to more generic ones like "sweet" and "berry," respectively.
Existing vape shops that are within the 300-meter boundary could continue to operate, as, according to Verrall, those businesses had complied with prior regulations.