Tag: New Zealand

New Zealand’s Vaping Rules Takes Effect

Photo: Tobacco Reporter archive
Vaping in now illegal in many public places for Kiwis. New Zealand passed the Smokefree Environments and Regulated Products (Vaping) Amendment Act in August, with restrictions to be phased in over a 15-month period.
The first raft of measures, which began on Nov. 11, prohibit the use of e-cigarettes in workplaces, schools, early childhood education and care centers, according to an article in The Daily Mail.
Nancy Loucas, Director of Aotearoa Vapers Community Advocacy, encouraged New Zealand’s 200,000 vapers “to think a little more” before they vape.
“The general rule is if you wouldn’t smoke there, you shouldn’t vape there,” she said. “The likes of shopping malls, and around schools and childcare centers are a no no. At the same time, many councils have made their outdoor city center areas and council parks vape-free as well.”
New Zealand’s new act also prohibits advertising and sponsorship related to vaping products. But the AVCA is concerned treating vaping like smoking will lead to further stigmatization.
“Employers will still be able to permit vaping in a company vehicle, with some very workable provisions in place,” Loucas said. “Patients in hospital care or rest home residents can vape within a dedicated room for vaping, provided there is the likes of adequate ventilation. At the same time, a good employer would dedicate an outside area to vaping, where employees feel comfortable taking a vape break. Vaping is now effectively banned where smoking is, but it’s by no means banned outright. Instead, it’s finally a totally legalized activity for New Zealand adults, albeit now more tightly regulated.”

November 11, 2020
Vaper advocates warn against restricting flavor

Photo: Duh84bk – Dreamstime.com
End Smoking NZ group has urged the government of New Zealand to curtail legislation set to impede vapor product sales.
The government aims to restrict vapor product flavors to three varieties—mint, menthol and tobacco. End Smoking NZ fears the rule will drive people who have used vapor products to quit smoking back to cigarettes.
“This rapid decline in cigarette sales shows vaping products are clearly working,” said Ends Smoking NZ in statement. “However, the government’s over-regulation of flavors will mean cigarette sales are set to get a boost. No wonder tobacco companies are welcoming the flavor restrictions as they will simply help preserve traditional tobacco’s longevity.”
In 2019, cigarette sales totaled 2.13 billion pieces in New Zealand.
“The success of vaping, and the huge dent it has made on cigarette sales, is due to the accessibility and appeal of vaping to adult smokers,” said Ben Pryor, co-owner of Alt New Zealand and VAPO. “Adults love flavors, and those successfully transitioning from cigarettes to vaping need comparable nicotine. If you tighten the screws on both, you are simply making it harder for Kiwis to quit smoking and that’s a very poor public health outcome.”
August 28, 2020
Imperial Sells New Zealand Factory

Photo: Tobacco Reporter archive
Imperial Tobacco announced that it has sold its Petone (New Zealand) production facility to a real estate developer and will discontinue its operations at the facility by
Sept. 30. In Feb. it was reported that the factory’s closure would mean the loss of 122 jobs.
The Petone plant predominantly supplies Imperial Tobacco’s products to the Australasian market and is the company’s only factory in New Zealand or Australia.
Located in a popular suburb, the site measures 2.25-hectare and includes a warehouse along with manufacturing and office buildings
The site had been an important part of the Petone economy for around 90 years. W.D and H.O Wills Limited started manufacturing cigarettes in suburb around 1930, after establishing their business in Wellington in 1919 and needing to expand.
Imperial Tobacco had owned the site since the late-1990s
All production at the facility will be taken up by an Imperial facility in Taiwan.
July 27, 2020
Imperial Tobacco Offers its Petone Site for Sale

Photo: Tobacco Reporter archive
Imperial Tobacco has put up for sale the site of its Petone factory in Lower Hutt, New Zealand, reports Stuff.
In February, the company confirmed the factory would go through a staged shutdown and the plant would be decommissioned by the end of 2020 with the loss of 122 jobs.
Located in a popular suburb, the site measures 2.25-hectare and includes a warehouse along with manufacturing and office buildings
The site had been an important part of the Petone economy for around 90 years. W.D and H.O Wills Limited started manufacturing cigarettes in suburb around 1930, after establishing their business in Wellington in 1919 and needing to expand.
Imperial Tobacco had owned the site since the late-1990s.
The company has not yet confirmed a date for the end of production.

May 15, 2020
La la la
Philip Morris New Zealand (PMNZ) is looking for a tax break on its heated-tobacco sticks, according to stories by Madison Reidy for Television New Zealand and Bonnie Flaws for Stuff.co.nz.
Flaws quoted the PMNZ GM James Williams as saying that the combustible-cigarette excise taxes applied by the Government to discourage people from smoking and recoup the costs associated with smoking were not appropriate for non-combustible products, such as its tobacco sticks, which had less impact on people’s health.
To motivate consumers to move to these alternative products it was necessary to provide them with information, access and a financial incentive.
“Unfortunately, our heated tobacco product at the moment is still treated like a combustible product,” Williams was quoted as saying. “It still carries health warnings like it’s a cigarette.”
Meanwhile, Reidy’s story quoted Williams as saying that PMNZ wanted New Zealand to become the first market free of [combustible] cigarettes.
“There is no motivation, at all, from anybody within Philip Morris to keep selling cigarettes in New Zealand,” he said.
But the National Tobacco Control Advocacy Service’s general manager Mihi Blair said the plan was just a bold public relations stunt.
“If Philip Morris was very serious about it, they would just stop it [selling cigarettes] right now,” said Blair.
“It is just swapping one addiction to another.”
Williams said the company could not pull cigarettes from shelves immediately because that would simply force smokers to buy from other manufacturers.
He said PMNZ wanted to help the government achieve its smoke-free-by-2025 goal, but that the Ministry of Health had refused to meet with him even after he had sent to the agency six binders of scientific information.
A spokesperson for the Ministry would not say if it had refused a meeting with Williams.
The Ministry was not aware of the details of PMNZ’s plan to pull cigarettes from New Zealand shelves, the spokesperson added.
March 7, 2019
Driving change
New Zealand is planning to ban vaping and tobacco smoking in vehicles when people under 18 are present, according to a story in The New Zealand Herald quoting the associate health minister Jenny Salesa.
The ban would apply to all vehicles and whether they are parked or on the move.
“Public education and social marketing campaigns over many years have had some impact, but the rate of reduction in children exposed to smoking in vehicles is slowing,” Salesa said. “It is now time to do more by legislating.”
Salesa said that she expected the Smoke-free Environments Act 1990 to be changed by the end of this year so that police would be able to use their discretion about whether to give warnings, refer people to stop-smoking support services, or issue infringement fees of NZ$50.
The focus of the ban is said to be on education and changing social norms – not on issuing infringement notices; so the legislation will be backed up with what is described as a new and innovative public education and social marketing effort.
“First and foremost, this change is about protecting children,” said Salesa. “However, it is also part of the Government’s commitment to achieving Smokefree 2025.
“Too many New Zealand children, particularly Māori and Pacific children, are exposed to second-hand smoke in the vehicles they usually travel in.
“Children are especially vulnerable to the harmful effects of second-hand smoke due to their smaller lungs, higher respiratory rate and immature immune systems.
“Second-hand smoke accumulates in vehicles, even with the windows open. It reaches much higher levels than in homes.”
The story said there was likely to be strong support for the move because several surveys had shown that about 90 percent of people support the idea of a ban on smoking in cars with children present.
February 11, 2019
Funding questioned
A recent investigation has revealed that the New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union accepted funding from British American Tobacco, according to a press note issued by the public health organization Hāpai te Hauora and published on the New Zealand Doctor website.
‘In an investigation into the ties between “free-market think tanks” and the tobacco industry, right-wing lobbying group, the NZ Taxpayers’ Union, was identified as being supported by multinational firm British American Tobacco,’ the press note said.
Hāpai te Hauora said it had had a long history of challenging the Union, which had railed against cigarette tax increases and plain packaging laws in New Zealand.
Current Hāpai Tobacco Control manager, Mihi Blair, was quoted as saying that this was predictable behavior from tobacco companies, which continued to attempt to create divisions among those who were working towards eliminating smoking-related harm.
“I should think the NZ Taxpayer’s Union will have their tail between their legs,’ she said. ‘This completely undermines their credibility, especially with a motto like lower tax, less waste, more transparency. This is the sort of behaviour we expect from Big Tobacco – trying to find puppets to advance their interests.”
February 1, 2019
Smokers hit by price hike
New Zealand’s Quitline has seen a surge of people saying they want to give up tobacco smoking after the tax hikes on New Year’s Day, but many smokers say the price increase won’t change their habits, according to a story on Radio New Zealand.
The price of cigarettes increased by 10 percent on January 1, raising the average retail price of a 20-piece pack by NZ$2 to NZ$27.
During the past six years, cigarette prices have been pushed up by NZ$11 a pack.
Quitline was contacted 1,700 times in the first week of January, about 500 more times than in the same week last year.
“The new year is a time when people look to improve their health,” said Quitline chief executive Andrew Slater. “[For] smokers, it’s when they think most about giving up smoking.”
But a Ministry of Health tobacco tax excise evaluation released last year showed focus groups thought most smokers would rather pay more rather than go without cigarettes.
Ben Youdan, a spokesperson for Action for Smokefree New Zealand, said New Zealand was now one of the most expensive places to be a smoker.
It was obvious that smoking was addictive, he said, but it could also be a personal issue for people.
The Ministry of Health said it was committed to the Smokefree 2025 goal and considered vaping and e-cigarettes a less harmful alternative to smoking and combustible cigarettes.
January 22, 2019
Retail restrictions sought
A leading New Zealand-owned and operated vaping company, Alt, is supporting calls for tobacco to be removed from all dairies, according to a story at Voxy.co.nz.
Alt New Zealand’s director, Jonathan Devery reportedly said that such a move would bring considerable health and security benefits.
Devery said that dairy owners needn’t worry about losing income because ongoing hikes in tobacco tax and dwindling smoking rates were already contributing to lower retailer revenue.
At the same time, vaping products, which were much better for society, were proving increasingly profitable for dairy owners.
In recent days, dairy owners have reportedly raised concerns that a New Year rise in tobacco tax had put them at greater risk of theft.
Meanwhile, the Maori public health organization Hapai Te Hauora has called on tobacco’s availability to be limited, noting that smokers trying to give up are more likely to relapse if a cigarette stockist is only a short distance away.
Devery agrees. Although ramping up excise taxes would help toward achieving New Zealand’s Smoke Free 2025 goal, the Government needed to consider the availability of tobacco. Getting cigarettes out of corner dairies would be a great start.
Additionally, Devery said that if the smoke-free goal was to be achieved, vaping products had to be readily available and advertised in a regulated and responsible manner.
Alt was said to be looking forward to the Government this year amending the Smokefree Environments Act 1990, which, among other things, would help distinguish the considerably-safer vaping products from smoking products.
January 11, 2019
Vaping saves money
Smokers in New Zealand can now improve their physical and financial health considerably by switching to vaping.
According to a story in The Bay of Plenty Times, a January 1 tax increase was at least partially responsible for taking the retail price of a pack of 20 cigarettes to more than NZ$20, and in the case of some brands to more than NZ$25.
The excise tax increase behind the price rise is part of a series of annual increases, the last of which is due to be imposed on January 1, 2020.
In the face of the latest price hike, many smokers are switching to vaping as a cheaper option or because of the associated health benefits.
Shosha [a large retail group offering, among other items, vaping devices and e-liquids] vaping store manager Harinder Singh said more people were switching to vaping than ever due to the huge financial savings and health benefits. Most vapers, he said, could expect to pay NZ$60 a week less than they were paying as smokers.
Meanwhile, Mihi Blair of Hapai Te Hauora Maori Public Health said the organization was urging smokers, particularly wahine, to vape as a way of kicking the habit. “Whanau who are wanting to learn more about vaping or going smoke-free should contact Quitline,” Blair said.
Quitline was expecting an influx of calls and texts from people seeking support this month because such people often said their key motivation was to save money, according to Quitline’s communication manager Calvin Cochran.
January 4, 2019