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WELLINGTON: New Zealand announced a ban on disposable vapes Tuesday (Jun 6), tightening the nation’s chokehold on smoking as it also phases in a near-total prohibition on tobacco sales.
Disposable vapes – defined as those without removable or replaceable batteries – will be banned from August, Health Minister Ayesha Verrall said.
“Too many young people are vaping, which is why we’re making a number of moves to stop that happening,” she said in a statement.
New vape shops will not be allowed near schools or marae – Maori meeting places, she said.
Names like “cotton candy” and “strawberry jelly donut” will be barred, the minister added, in favour of generic equivalents such as “berry”.
Vapes will also need a child-safety mechanism, she said.
Verrall said the government wanted to strike a balance between preventing young people from starting to use vapes and allowing people to use them as an aid to quitting smoking.
Six months ago, New Zealand announced it would make cigarettes permanently unavailable to anyone currently aged under 14 – effectively raising the smoking age each year until the whole population is covered.
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