In a highly interesting keynote speech, chaired by Professor Giuseppe Biondi Zoccai, Dr Marewa Glover gave an update on the recent legislative and regulatory changes in New Zealand concerning smoking and vaping, and presented preliminary research data about the barriers and misconceptions that prevent a part of smokers’ population from achieving smoking cessation.
According to the new amended New Zealand regulations, Dr Glover said, it has been decided that from 21 September 2023 vape shops must be over 300 meters from a registered school, while from 21 December 2023 single-use vapes (‘disposables’) must meet specific Product Safety Requirements (such as 20 mg nicotine cap, removable batteries, child safety mechanisms and labelling requirements), and from 21 March 2024 no vaping products, or smokeless tobacco product (HnB) packaging, with cartoon or toy images, or non-permitted flavour descriptions will be allowed, and ‘reusable’ vapes must meet Product Safety Requirements (28.5 mg nicotine salt cap, removable batteries, and child safety mechanisms). The government decided also to close off access to cigarettes and from 1 July 2024 there will be no more than 600 retailers of combustible tobacco products (down from 6000+ nationwide) in the country. This is a radical change, Dr Glover explained, since smokers may have to drive a long distance and even wait in line to buy cigarettes. A second very radical untried policy, she added, concerns the denicotinization of cigarettes, since from 1 April 2025 all tobacco cigarettes must contain no more than <0.08 mg/g of nicotine. Finally, in order to increase the protection of the minors, regulators focused on the legal age of purchase, deciding that from 1 January 2027 the legal age of purchase (currently 18) will increase by 1 year annually.
Although smoking prevalence has substantially dropped in New Zealand because of the new non-combustible products, the speaker highlighted the fact that the new regulations are expected to be hard for those that won’t be able to quit by 2025. According to the preliminary data analysis of “Voices of the 5%” research, she explained, a longitudinal qualitative research conducted from 2020 to 2024 in 62 diverse adults (19-81 yrs) across New Zealand, who did not want to stop smoking or believed they would not be able to stop by 2025, the major barriers to switching from smoking combustible cigarettes to vaping is lack of knowledge and misconceptions about nicotine. We assume everyone knows that smoking kills, but some people really don’t know, Dr Glover said. Some people don’t understand how smoking kills, and this can lead to cynicism and rejection of health risk messages, she underlined. We cannot ignore these people, we must focus more on health education in order to help them, she concluded, and expressed special concern about the effects of the new bans on people with mental disorders.
