Source: Asthma and Respiratory Foundation
Policymakers are being urged to confront the harsh reality that vaping is undermining years of smokefree progress – a trend the Asthma and Respiratory Foundation NZ has long warned would happen.
New research – recently published in The Lancet – which looked at trends in smoking prevalence before and after the emergence of vaping in New Zealand among 14-15-year-olds, shows that the rise of vaping has stalled progress in cutting youth smoking rates and deepened inequities for Māori and Pacific teens.
The study analysed the ASH Snapshot Surveys spanning 2003 to 2024, a total of nearly 600,000 Year 10 students, and found that while youth smoking has fallen overall since 2003, progress has stalled since vaping took hold. Māori and Pacific teens – already at greater risk of tobacco-related harm – are disproportionately affected.
Foundation Chief Executive Ms Letitia Harding says the findings prove what public health advocates have long feared: vaping is fuelling nicotine addiction, not ending it.
“This study confirms what we’ve been warning about for years.
“Vaping was promoted as a way out of smoking, but for our rangatahi, it’s become a trap,” she says.
“We’re seeing nicotine dependence take hold earlier and more deeply than before – and it’s reversing progress.”
The Foundation’s nearly decade-long fight against tobacco shows the same industry tactics are now being used to hook a new generation on nicotine, Ms Harding says.
“This isn’t harm reduction – this is harm transfer.”
“It’s time the Government stopped treating it as a less harmful alternative and started treating it as the separate public health threat it is.”
Aotearoa once led the world in tobacco control, Ms Harding says.
“Now, we are watching it slip away.”
The Foundation continues to call for tighter restrictions around vapes.
It wants to see the Government halt the establishment of further Specialist Vape Retailers (SVRs), ban the sale of vapes in general retailer stores, limit the nicotine content of all vape products to 20 mg/mL, and re-look at the prescription model.
