We as adults have failed our mokopuna” – that is the message from activists demanding the government introduces tougher rules around vaping.<\/p>\n
Rangatahi were among those who marched up the steps of Parliament on Wednesday afternoon armed with a petition containing over 13,000 signatures.<\/p>\n
Year 11 Sacred Heart College student Fanua Rimoni was one of many teens worried about the health impacts of vaping on her generation.<\/p>\n
“Definitely killing us, we’re going to become the statistics in however many years when all that stuff comes out, yeah we’re going to be the ones that everyone’s looking at because we’re the ones affected by it the most. By the time we turn 18 or whatever, it’s going to be 10 years for some people vaping,” Rimoni said.<\/p>\n
Riana La’afa-Paki, 16, said vaping was ingrained in her peer group.<\/p>\n
“It’s not like really the go these days but its normalised into them now cos as the politics have done, they’ve just made it normalised and they said its a healthier option than smoking,” La’afa-Paki said.<\/p>\n
Charlie Christie started the petition after her 14-year-old son became addicted to vaping, which he was introduced to by a friend.<\/p>\n
She started getting calls from his teachers who noticed he was leaving class to vape in the toilets.<\/p>\n
She said she had noticed the effects on his health – throat and chest infections, a constant cough and headaches.<\/p>\n
“My blood boils when I drop him off at school and I see kids walking down the street in their school uniform, puffing away on a vape. It drives me mad, drives me mental. It’s time for change, enough’s enough,” Christie said.<\/p>\n
She had spoken to other parents who said children as young as seven were getting their hands on vapes.<\/p>\n
About 30 people accompanied the petition to Parliament, some of whom made impassioned speeches.<\/p>\n
“We as adults have failed to protect them by not learning lessons from the past, in keeping products designed to addict the user out of their hands and out of their community.”<\/p>\n
Latest Asthma Foundation data showed about 20 percent of young people under 18 vaped regularly.<\/p>\n
From October vape stores will be banned from opening 300 metres away from schools and marae.<\/p>\n
But Vape-Free Kids organiser Tammy Downer said major loop holes remained in the law.<\/p>\n
“So, all of the ones that have rushed to open since June, since they announced the intention to stop it, have rushed and opened and they’re all going to be apparently not considered underneath the change, it’s only from October,” Downer said.<\/p>\n
The group wanted restrictions on vape flavour names, and for the products to only be available from pharmacies, as was the case in Australia.<\/p>\n
Labour MP and Health Select Committee chairperson Tracey McLellan received the petition on behalf of the government.<\/p>\n
When questioned about loopholes in the law, she acknowledged the government still had work to do.<\/p>\n
“The minister of health is constantly looking at all of the various different ways that new measures can be put in place.<\/p>\n
“The government’s certainly not afraid of standing up to the tobacco and the vaping industry so I expect that we’ll see more and more changes as times goes on,” McLellan said.<\/p>\n
Prime Minister Chris Hipkins has not ruled out cracking down on shops that have already opened near schools.<\/p>\n
Source Rnz<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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