New Zealand Becomes the Latest Country to Crack Down on Disposable Vapes

After scrapping a plan several months ago to ban people born after 2008 from buying tobacco cigarettes, the New Zealand government on Wednesday announced a total ban on single-use e-cigarettes—also known as disposable vapes—and said it will increase the fines on retailers selling cigarettes and vapes to those under 18, in the country’s latest approach to discourage smoking among youth. [time-brightcove not-tgx=”true”] “The rapid rise in youth vaping has been a real concern for parents, teachers, and health professionals,” Associate Health Minister Casey Costello said when announcing the changes to New Zealand’s Smokefree Environments and Regulated Products Act. She added that reusable vapes would remain available for adults as they are “a key smoking cessation device” but that too many teenagers use disposable vapes because “they’re cheap and remain too easy to get.” Costello said the New Zealand government is “committed to tackling youth vaping and to continue to drive down smoking rates to achieve the Smokefree goal of less than 5% of the population smoking daily by 2025.” As of last year, she said, 6.8% of the population smoked daily. Under the new rules, fines for retailers caught selling regulated products like vapes and cigarettes to minors would be increased from NZ$10,000 (about $6,000) to NZ$100,000 ($60,000). Costello said the New Zealand Cabinet also reconfirmed a ra...
Source: TIME: Health - Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Tags: Uncategorized News Desk overnight Source Type: news