What: Labour MP Jenny Salesa has decided to put forward a proposal to limit flavoured nicotine e-liquids to mint, menthol and tobacco.
Why: After all the media coverage of vaping “killing” people in the United States, the government had to be seen to be doing something. Unfortunately, we know that flavoured vape juice wasn’t the culprit. Black market THC with Vit E seems to be the main culprit in almost all cases.
Here are some links to trusted websites covering what has really happened, following the CDC doing investigations into the incidents:
Washington Post: https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2019/09/27/most-vaping-related-lung-injuries-linked-marijuana-products-cdc-says/
Centre for Disease Control (CDC) – https://www.cdc.gov/tobacco/basic_information/e-cigarettes/severe-lung-disease.html
Bloomberg: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-09-27/thc-products-strongly-linked-to-vaping-lung-injuries-cdc-says
What can I do? First off, sign the petition here:
Secondly, when you’re talking with someone online, theres some great info in this post and pics to share. Its really good to have these conversations on politicians facebook pages etc, and to help educate their constituents/voters on why this ban isn’t a good idea. Be polite, informative and help people understand, that this ban would be damaging to peoples health.
Thirdly, contact your local MP, here’s a list of them all and clock on one for their contact details: https://www.parliament.nz/en/mps-and-electorates/members-of-parliament/
Let them know you don’t support the ban, say that you agree with the Ministry of Health, you can read the advice to them here, quote them from here too: https://www.health.govt.nz/system/files/documents/pages/ris-support-smokers-to_switch-to-alternatives-jan-2019.pdf
The ASH 10 YEAR SNAPSHOT SURVEY is the biggest teen vape/smoke survey in the world and the longest running . Statistics show numbers are at an ALL TIME LOW, Jenny has said it herself in her beehive Parliament page.
Remind people, Jenny Salesa’s most recent quote on the matter was “their is no robust evidence that vape is a gateway to smoking” and this had been her catch phrase for the last year . https://www.beehive.govt.nz/release/teen-smoking-lowest-level
The Minister has spent close to two years establishing e-cigarette advisory groups with the best, most educated people in the field of Tobacco harm reduction and they were so confident that they released the vaping facts website, where the ministry praised the local vape industry and mentions them 13 times saying the best thing to do is find a good shop.
The ministry of health research and study and compile their results and deliver a proposal to the health ministers, that’s their job to advise on any regulation or legislation in regards to health. Their proposal in January is 45 pages long and they WARN about banning flavour. It’s absurd.
If Minister Salesa wants to turn around and say it’s ‘for our health’ well she needs to provide EVIDENCE that the three flavours she has chosen for us are somehow any safer than fruit flavours. The thing is, she can’t .
Menthol and mint are in the news for all the wrong reasons, tobacco is one of the most complex flavours that exists, not that it matters because the study that NZ follows is the public health of England study (NHS) and they say even the worse e-liquid is a hundred times better that smoking. You can’t praise a study and cherry pick the bits you like.
We got this, New Zealand. We need your help though. We’ve got some great vape companies, some great scientists and some good doctors. We just need to convince some wayward politicians of the science and ask them to please stop trying to take our juice!
Here’s another great blog post to help inform people as well about whether flavoured juice is dangerous. and some more important info/links you might find useful to read or share:
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/15/2/222
Think before you ban: The awkward case of e-cigarette flavors
https://www.beehive.govt.nz/release/new-vaping-quit-smoking-website-launches
http://www.ecigarette-research.org/research/index.php/whats-new/2019/270-cin-heart
For ongoing info and to meet other people who want to put a stop to this, join the Facebook group, Kiwis Against The Flavour Ban.
Nga mihi nui,
Max Coyle
N.B. I’m not being paid by anyone to produce this post, I don’t work for a vape company, I work for a community centre where I’ve seen the harm that the insanely high tobacco taxes are doing to the impoverished families that we help every day. Many of these people want to give up smoking and vaping has been the ONLY way they’ve managed to do so.
So why am I in this fight? Its partly to help the community, partly because (as anyone who follows this blog knows) I hate it when people in power are doing dumb shit and fight fucking hard to sort it out, and partly because I vape, and I enjoy it. ❤
Consider that my full disclaimer!
Trickle 