Smoke & mirrors

An alarming rise in child vaping is ushering in a new generation of nicotine addicts, say critics who blame the Smokefree 2025 focus on tobacco.

- SARAH CATHERALL

If you put the vapes confiscated from intermediate schools in a single region in a pile, Megan Rangiuia imagines they would make a small mountain. The principal of Ilminster Intermediate in Tairāwhiti Gisborne pulls out a photograph of the vapes she confiscated off pupils at her school of 300. In any other setting, the plastic, colourful tubes might resemble an art work. But among 10- to 12-year-olds – tweens who are influenced by what is in vogue – Rangiuia noticed that vaping became cool about three years ago, inspired by the smoke signals coming from TikTok.

Australia has begun a war on e-cigarettes, alarmed that vaping has become a serious public health issue. In New Zealand, some health experts also want a war, while others are calling for something more like an intervention. On one side are anti-tobacco lobbyists such as ASH (Action on Smoking and Health), who argue that vapes help smokers quit and any restrictions will encourage a return to cigarette smoking. Against them, and arguing for war, are many doctors, educators and community workers who fear our liberal vaping environment has created a new generation of nicotine addicts – young people and nonsmokers who might never have touched a cigarette are now vaping regularly.

According to a November 2021 study of secondary school students by the Asthma and Respiratory Foundation, one in five teens uses an e-cigarette daily. Another study, by ASH, found the number of Year 10 students vaping daily tripled between 2019 and 2021. Māori women and girls are a particular concern to health groups – a quarter of Year 10 Māori wāhine vaped daily, up from 21% a year earlier.