Smoked out: Banned heated tobacco devices still being sold

Now-banned heated tobacco products appear to remain readily available in shops, despite the threat of a $400,000 fine, 1News can reveal.

It comes as the Associate Health Minister Casey Costello was today under pressure again over the Government’s approach to meeting its smokefree targets.

Changes aimed at stopping youth vaping meant heated tobacco products – which heat mini tobacco ‘cigarettes’ instead of lighting them with a flame – are no longer legally sold in New Zealand unless they have replaceable batteries and a child-proof lock.

The changes also apply to vaping devices, which differ from heated tobacco products (HTPs). They came into force on October 1, after Cabinet agreed to a six-month delay on its implementation, its original start date being March 21.

But a 1News undercover trip to a shop in Wellington today showed how simple it was to obtain the now-illegal product.

A TVNZ staff member entered the shop in Titahi Bay and asked for an IQOS device – the only HTP device available in New Zealand, a Philip Morris monopoly.

There, he successfully purchased the product for $20.

Another appeared willing to sell the product, including having a box of the device on display, but advised the TVNZ staff member they had sold out of the product.

Vape-Free Kids has also sent people into shops in Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch and successfully purchased the banned HTPs.

The organisation’s representative Anna Stewart said it appeared stores “don’t understand the requirements or they’re simply not following through and continuing to sell them anyway”.

The store’s owner later told 1News it was not a product the shop usually sold and had packed them in a box to return to the supplier, but the shop assistant “wasn’t really thinking” and took the product out of the box. The owner said he understood it should not have been sold and it was an “accident”.

Health New Zealand said its compliance officers had received training to update them on the legislative changes.

“As part of routine compliance activity, assessments continue to be made across the range of regulated products to ensure they comply with all requirements. Officers do not target specific devices, rather all devices not meeting regulatory requirements.

“To date, the Ministry has received two complaints relating to the October 1 requirements concerning five separate retailers. These complaints are being addressed through the standard complaints process.“

A Philip Morris spokesperson said the company was compliant with all regulations and was one of many suppliers and manufacturers of devices affected by the changes.

“On September 23, our business partners were provided in writing with a detailed list of products, including product names and identifying barcode numbers, to be withdrawn from sale by October 1.

“The communication was on official letterhead and titled ‘please read important information’ and informed retailers of their obligations under the law to stop selling devices that do not meet new regulatory standards. In addition, field sales teams from Philip Morris NZ have called individual retailers and personally visited stores to remind sellers to remove all products from display and sale.”

The spokesperson said new devices which met regulations would soon be available.

Minister feeling the heat

News HTPs are still available for sale in some retailers comes as Associate Health Minister Casey Costello was again under pressure today over the Government’s approach to its smokefree targets.

RNZ revealed money put aside for tax breaks for HTPs is not currently required given the devices they’re consumed on became illegal to sell on October 1, due to the regulatory changes spearheaded by the former Labour-led government.

Cabinet papers revealed the minister attempted to delay the introduction of the changes by two years, but Cabinet agreed only to six months from its original March 21 start date.

The IQOS device, with a monopoly on the HTP device New Zealand market, is no longer compliant.

Costello reduced the excise tax on HTPs by 50% at a cost of up to $216 million – and a contingency set aside for that cost, which meant the money could not be spent elsewhere.

That’s despite Prime Minister Christopher Luxon saying on TVNZ’s Breakfast yesterday the 12-month trial tax break was going ahead, and the Government would “just to see how it goes”.

Labour health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall said Costello had “made a fool” of the Prime Minister.

“This raises serious questions about what Casey Costello told the Prime Minister and when.

“If she did not explain [to Cabinet] that that meant the Government was putting aside $216 million and then not being able to use it for any public purpose, that means she has misled the Cabinet and meant that all the other Ministers sitting around the table, who could have used that $216 million to fund health or to fund education, have been duped.”

Verrall said heated tobacco products had “no role in health programmes in New Zealand”.

She said there was “no evidence” the products helped people quit smoking.

“In fact, they might harm people.

“There is only one company that benefits from that tax break – that’s Phillip Morris.”

Asked what she would like Costello to do now, Verrall’s response was succinct: “Resign”.

Verrall said Costello had either “misled” the Prime Minister by not saying “what was really going on with these products – or she’s incompetent”.

Costello told 1News she “wasn’t aware” the heated tobacco devices wouldn’t be compliant with the October 1 changes but said “the market pivots pretty quickly”.

She said the products were being viewed as a tool to help people quit smoking cigarettes.

“I’m confident that [suppliers] will replace with a product that will be compliant but all I was doing was presenting options [for] smoking cessation tools.”

She said the $216m was a contingency sum.

“It was never expected that we would be offering that level of tax break.”

Asked if her officials had advised her heated tobacco consumption was more harmful than vaping, she said “no”.

“We had a harm matrix … there was a series of products [for tobacco consumption]. They were all reducing in harm, so the discussion was ‘less harmful’.

“It’s less harmful. The target is to get people to stop smoking.

“So anything that we can get people to go on the path towards quitting smoking – vaping hasn’t worked for everyone.”

She said she was aware the majority of heated tobacco products were supplied by Philip Morris but she had “no engagement with that process”.

“I’m not saying heated tobacco is safe. That’s completely untrue. What we’re saying is it’s less harmful. If vaping doesn’t work and you’re still smoking, then looking at options that are less harmful than smoking make sense.

“We saw it in Japan, which doesn’t have vaping – massive reduction in smoking rates as a result of heated tobacco products.

“Sweden, for example, who have alternate products, their smoking rates are lower than ours.”

Asked if she would release the independent advice she’d received on the efficacy of HTPs as a smoking cessation tool, she said there had been “independent studies and those will be released”.

She said she didn’t know them all off the top of her head.

“There was advice from ASH around countries that have used other products.”

She said some was also from Health New Zealand.

The Government’s approach was about consent, rather than “coercion”.

She said she never had “any engagement ever” with the tobacco companies.

“The policy around an excise tax reduction may have benefited them, absolutely … How does it benefit them when I’m trying to get people to stop smoking.”

Of Verrall’s call for Costello’s resignation, Costello said it was because her decisions diverted from that of the previous Labour government.

“Which was the coercion model. I’m doing it by consent and reducing the demand, and I think as a health professional she’d understand what addiction means. Addiction doesn’t just suddenly stop because you’ve cut off supply – addiction leads you to more desperation. So what I’m trying to do is deal with the addiction.

“We have a different pathway to achieve the objective but exactly the same objective.”

Costello said she’d watched her father die of respiratory illness.

“I hate smoking … we need to be smarter about how we deal with it.”