A highly focused Vaping Trade Association of New Zealand (VTANZ) has been launched determined to vigorously fight any efforts to kill-off hundreds of New Zealand businesses and thousands of livelihoods now associated with the local vape industry
A collection of the biggest names in the vaping industry have set aside their competitive differences to fight a bigger foe: Government regulation.In a bid to offer a collective voice against proposed regulatory changes, a collection of vaping businesses recently banded together to form the Vaping Trade Association of New Zealand (VTANZ).The Herald understands that major Kiwi vape brands including Shosha, Alt, Vapourium, The Vape Shop and Vapo, among others have agreed to work together to ensure that excessively prohibitive legislation isn't passed in the local market.
VTANZ spokesman Ben Pryor says that negative media out of the US has had a negative impact on local perceptions regarding the vaping industry.
Pryor was adamant that the aim of VTANZ was not to oppose all regulation.
"The Ministry of Health has indicated the proposed regulations will prohibit harmful ingredients, set quality standards for ingredients, as well as set standards for refill containers and devices. This is long overdue," he said. So far, the Government has taken quite a progressive approach with vaping, promoting it as a means by which to quit cigarettes. But there have been signs of this changing, with Associate Health Minister Jenny Salesa suggesting in early September that new laws could bring vaping under regulatory controls as strict as those seen in tobacco.
What the industry body is concerned about is that negative media sentiment is starting to influence the type of legislation that's passed.
"The noises now coming out of the Beehive are increasingly alarming," Pryor said.
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A collection of the biggest names in the vaping industry have set aside their competitive differences to fight a bigger foe: Government regulation.In a bid to offer a collective voice against proposed regulatory changes, a collection of vaping businesses recently banded together to form the Vaping Trade Association of New Zealand (VTANZ).The Herald understands that major Kiwi vape brands including Shosha, Alt, Vapourium, The Vape Shop and Vapo, among others have agreed to work together to ensure that excessively prohibitive legislation isn't passed in the local market.
VTANZ spokesman Ben Pryor says that negative media out of the US has had a negative impact on local perceptions regarding the vaping industry.
Pryor was adamant that the aim of VTANZ was not to oppose all regulation.
"The Ministry of Health has indicated the proposed regulations will prohibit harmful ingredients, set quality standards for ingredients, as well as set standards for refill containers and devices. This is long overdue," he said. So far, the Government has taken quite a progressive approach with vaping, promoting it as a means by which to quit cigarettes. But there have been signs of this changing, with Associate Health Minister Jenny Salesa suggesting in early September that new laws could bring vaping under regulatory controls as strict as those seen in tobacco.
What the industry body is concerned about is that negative media sentiment is starting to influence the type of legislation that's passed.
"The noises now coming out of the Beehive are increasingly alarming," Pryor said.
READ MORE