Subj : 'Unacceptably high' sales to underage vape buyers revealed
To   : All
From : News
Date : Thu Apr 11 2024 12:17 pm

The scale of illegal vape sales to minors has been revealed today, with one
in 10 general shops picking up compliance checks last year.

For specialist shops, nearly one in five were caught out.

The Ministry of Health said it was planning to increase staff to bolster
enforcement, but there remained concerns that wouldn't address the problem.

Vaping regulations have been in place since 2020, but the owner of one
Christchurch store was the only one to face prosecution for selling vapes to
buyers under 18.

Members of Parliament today grilled the Ministry of Health on vape sale
enforcement in a select committee, with Labour's Ayesha Verrall saying it's
been "far too lax."

"The law is being broken routinely with vapes being sold to under aged
children," she said.

The Ministry of Health shared that controlled purchase operations last year
found around 10% of general vape retailers such as dairies illegally sold
vape to young people aged under 18, and 17% of specialist vape retailers
illegally sold to minors, compared to around 5% for tobacco sales.

"With a team that aren't equipped to even get around the whole country and
we're still seeing those numbers.it's sort of the tip of the iceberg I
think," Vape Free Kids New Zealand's Charyl Robinson said.

"Lawmakers need to act so that we can say, `we expect there to be
prosecutions'," Verrall said.

Public Health Agency Deputy Director-General Andrew Old told the select
committee a cost benefit analysis was part of deciding whether to take court
action.

In a statement, Health New Zealand Te Whatu Ora said in response to the need
to increase compliance, recruitment for 16 further enforcement officers has
begun, with the roles working fulltime on tobacco and vaping compliance.

There were 39 existing roles, but these staff also have other public health
responsibilities.

Associate Health Minister Casey Costello said she hoped to have the increase
for retailer fines from $10,000 to $100,000 passed in Parliament this year.

Vape Free Kids New Zealand, Ayesha Verrall and some public health researchers
were calling for a limit on the number of vape retailers in the country, to
curb access for young people.

There are at least 5760 general vape retailers and 1361 specialist stores.

"We were promised by Christopher Luxon and Dr Shane Reti that vape retailers
would be capped at 600 and a lot of people cast their votes on that," Vape
Free Kids New Zealand's Charyl Robinson said about National's health policy's
released before last year's election.

Associate Health Minister Costello was part of the coalition Government as a
New Zealand First Member of Parliament.

She said vapes needed to be available to those trying to quit smoking.

"I want to achieve a balance here so there are things that we are doing where
we are going to put greater controls around specialist vaping stores, greater
enforcement where I hope that will be the deterrent in terms of whether
people decide to stay in this market because of the compliance pressure." she
says.

But parents of those addicted to vaping said the focus should be stopping
children picking up the habit.

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