The Proposals To Protect Youth From Vaping Are Not Enough

Te Rōpū Tupeka Kore is disappointed with what they see as a weak proposal that was put forth by the Minister of Health Dr Ayesha Verall, in recent announcements, saying the government will "crack down" on vaping products.

Te Rōpū Tupeka Kore recognises that it has been because of the lack of regulations on vaping products from the very beginning that has led to this epidemic that is severly impacting on the health and well being of our rangatahi and tamariki, and not recognising the broader impact on our whole community when introducing vape products into our communities.

Te Rōpū Tupeka Kore is disheartened as they know that these measures proposed by the Minister will not protect Māori and our community from the harm caused by these products that are highly addictive in their design.

The measures proposed include restricting new vape retailers operating within 300m of schools or sports grounds, control vape flavor names, and implement safety features for single-use vaping products that require them to have removable batteries.

Catherine Manning co-spokesperson for Te Rōpū Tupeka Kore says "There seems to be more concern for protecting the profits of the retailers over the protection of our whakapapa. Protecting the availability of these products seems to be more important than protecting the impacts on Māori and in particular our rangatahi."

Te Rōpū Tupeka Kore has continuosly voiced concerns around allowing the vape and retail industry to leverage off the lives and health of Māori especially our rangatahi and tamariki, and the idea that vapes were brought in to reduce smoking rates is one of the biggest marketing scandals of our time. Disguised as the "healthy alternative" and "harm minimisation", to support its introduction was not by accident, but well thought out with decietful intentions by the industries that create and profit from them.

In 2005 Te Reo Mārama, the founding members of Te Rōpū Tupeka Kore, advocated strongly towards a tupeka kore goal, that led to the 2010 Māori Affairs Select Committees major inquiry into the Tobacco Industry, and in 2011 it resulted in the government setting the goal of Smokefree 2025. However, it took another 11 years before the Smokefree Environments and Regulated Products Act 1990 (SERPA 1990) was finally passed.

These delays from successive governments, to introduce a smokefree action plan was a huge part of why another harmful product was introduced so widely, without protective measures in place to protect our most vulnerable, our rangatahi, tamariki and mokopuna, who are the ones that will be suffering for many years to come from the introductions to these products.

Te Rōpū Tupeka Kore believes those who have allowed this epidemic to take place need to be held accountable, and the proliferation of vape retailers being established without any restraints to prevent them rising exponentially needs to be addressed immediately.

"Dont let us inherit the same legacy of vaping that past generations have inherited from tobacco", a comment during a oral submission from a young rangatahi advocate in 2017, Potatau Clark, a member of The Hashtags.

Leading Māori Researcher Anaru Waa, co-spokesperson for Te Rōpū Tupeka Kore says "Smoking rates have declined in the last 10 years, however the increase in vaping rates is a major issue amongst young rangatahi"

The most recent survey by ASH(NZ) that only looks at Year 10 students was conducted in 2022 found that 10% of the 14 to 15 year olds reported daily vaping, while 22% of rangatahi Māori vaped daily, a major increase from less than two percent five years ago.

The NZ Health survey data show that current (at least monthly) use of electronic cigarettes by 15 to 17 year olds increased from 1.8% in 2017/18 to 12.3% in 2020/21.

"There’s been 56,000 people who have stopped smoking in the past year, but simultanously we have another 119,000 rangatahi aged between 15 and 24 that are now addicted to vaping, so we need stronger committment if we want to prevent it from getting worse" says Waa

Te Rōpū Tupeka Kore calls on all parents, schools, youth, and the community to join us in advocating for stronger regulations. It’s a wild wild west scenario out there, we have heard of vapes stores operating without their licenses being approved, we have heard of dairies with lists of certain students they know they can get away with selling too, we have heard of general retailers being forced by the tobacco companies to sell vapes otherwise they lose rebates, and the list goes on.

Te Rōpū Tupeka Kore recommends the following actions:

• - A complete ban on cheap non-refillable or disposable vapes.
• - Lowering the nicotine levels from 50mg to 20mg in line with other countries like EU.
• - Implement plain(black and white) packaging with warnings on all vape products.
• - Restricting flavour varieties as well as flavour names.
• - Remove all vaping products and displays from sight of children in dairies.
• - The sale of vapes to be sold only by SVRs.
• - Restricting new vape retailers from operating and setting a maximum cap on all vape retailers within Aotearoa.
• - Implement a sinking lid on all current specialist vape retailers (SVRs) located within 1-2km proximity of schools, marae, significant landmarks, playgrounds, and sports fields.
• - Implement a sinking lid on all current "store within a store" models that exposes young people to vapes, and making all current "store within a store" into R18 stores with completely two different businesses, staff and with two completely different entries.
• - Stronger penalties that include losing the license on breach of compliance, such as selling to minors
• - Invest more into supporting Smokefree/Vapefree enforcement officers.
• - More investment into supporting schools, communities, parents and rangatahi to quit vaping.

Te Rōpū Tupeka Kore urges the government to take these recommendations seriously and act with urgency to protect our tamariki and rangatahi from the harmful effects of vaping.

"Katahi me ngū, karua me rongo, katoru ka mārama. Kite mai, rongo mai, tō mātou reo."

"The first stage of learning is silence, the second stage is listening, the third stage is understanding. See us, hear our voice, heed our words."

- Te Rōpū Tupeka Kore

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