September 05, 2022
Vape push harmful to rangatahi
Royal New Zealand College of General Practitioners is concerned at a rapid increase in the number of rangatahi vaping.
Medical director Bryan Betty told the select committee looking at the Smokefree Environments Amendment Bill the college supports vaping as a smoking cessation tool, but the full medical effect may not be known for decades.
He says adolescents are starting to take up vaping in large numbers, and evidence is starting to emerge that it could increase rates of asthma and possibly lung damage.
And where two years ago about 25 percent of vapes sold had nicotine, now it’s up to 80 percent.
“The problem with nicotine, it’s highly addictive, so once you’re on it’s very hard to back away from it, but we do know it puts up blood pressure we do know it can increase anxiety, and what we do know, and this is a real concern for our adolescents, it can actually interfere with adolescent brain development,” Dr Betty says.