New Zealand
The New Zealand Vaping Alliance (NZVA) recently called upon the Ministry of Health to stand by its ‘draft’ advice to healthcare workers about e-cigarettes and publicly release it in the interests of public health.
“We support the comments made in the draft paper ‘How healthcare workers may want to respond to questions from patients about electronic cigarettes (e-cigarettes)’ which we have seen as a result of it being posted on Twitter, and believe the ministry should back themselves and release the advice so patients can have accurate information on e-cigarettes,” said Q.J. Satchell, president of the NZ Vaping Alliance. “We are very pleased to see the MOH publicly acknowledge – for the first time, the recent public health report from England on e-cigarettes. One of the lead authors of this authoritative and internationally acclaimed report was the ministry of health’s very own clinical advisor Dr Hayden McRobbie.”
“NZVA recognizes that the ‘advice’ was in draft form, but believe that healthcare workers and vapers should be able to see this advice.” said Satchell. “We believe the information contained in this ‘advice’ will be welcomed by the thousands of New Zealanders who are using e-cigarettes and vaping, and who are looking for information based on sound science and robust evidence – such as the public health report from England.”
“As such we will be posting it on our website www.nzvapingalliacne.co.nz as ‘Advice to New Zealanders About E-cigarettes,” said Satchell.
“New Zealand needs a public debate on e-cigarettes and vaping and we call upon the government to hold a public inquiry into e-cigarettes that, like the UK government, allows the latest evidence to be put forward,” Satchell said.