March 13, 2024
Vaping taking off in intermediate schools
The Asthma and Respiratory Foundation says vaping is the next biggest threat to Māori and Pasifika health.
Chief executive Letitia Harding says rolling back smokefree regulations and especially the idea of a smokefree generation so tobacco consumers can pay for tax cuts is a major step backwards.
She says the industry is determined to create new customers, whether for smoked tobacco or vapes, as can be seen from the report of a foundation field worker in Te Tai Rawhiti.
“So we’re now talking about these ten, eleven year olds, and just recently in one of the schools she visited, 73 percent of those kids had been offered a vape, and 77percent of them had tried vaping, so that’s a huge problem,” Ms Harding says.
She’s predicting a big rise in vaping outlets and more addictive nicotine being added to vapes.