29 JANUARY 2020

Taupō District Council’s “vape free” declaration for public spaces is a step backwards from Smokefree 2025, says the New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union.

Taxpayers’ Union spokesman Louis Houlbrooke says, “A powerful incentive to get smokers off cigarettes and onto less harmful alternatives is to let them vape in places they can’t smoke. When a council reduces the relative attractiveness of vaping, they make it more likely for people to keep smoking cigarettes – paying exorbitant excise taxes and damaging their health in the process.”

“The Council’s concerns over vaping as some kind of gateway to smoking are contradicted by the evidence. A New Zealand study published in the Lancet just last week suggests that vaping has led young people away from, not towards, smoking.”

“Councils should be aimed at improving health outcomes and easing financial pressures. This vaping crackdown does the opposite.”

"In addition, while the Council puts up misleading signs suggesting vaping is banned, it doesn't actually have the power to enforce this. The Council stop wasting time and get back to core business."

ENDS