New Zealand: Labour Party calls for resignation of tobacco industry minister Costello

Labour's health spokeswoman Dr Ayesha Verrall has called for Health Minister Casey Costello to resign after she called for heated tobacco devices to be included in the government's Smokefree 2025 strategy in New Zealand.

Dr Verrall says Casey Costello has no credibility as health minister since she scrapped effective smoking regulations that protected health and embarked on a reckless move to support heated tobacco devices, leading to a A$216 million tax break for manufacturer Philip Morris.[1].

Inconsistencies in C. Costello's speech

New Zealand's new vaping device regulations came into effect on 1^er October 2024. It forces the manufacturer Philip Morris to withdraw from sale its IQOS heated tobacco device and its VEEV One electronic cigarette, which do not comply with the new regulations. Indeed, the new regulations provide that vaping devices (including heated tobacco devices)[2] must have removable batteries and child-resistant mechanisms. On October 2, Costello told 1News she was “not aware” that heated tobacco devices would not comply with the changes brought about by the regulations.

When asked about the move, Prime Minister Christopher Luxon said the minister was aware of the delay, as she initiated the implementation deadline for the regulation. Documents obtained by RNZ show that Costello tried to delay the regulation by two years. But Cabinet only agreed to a six-month delay from the original March 21, 2024, implementation date. In support of her request for a delay, the minister said the regulation was likely to cause “difficulties for international nicotine industry players.”

The minister relied on documents from the tobacco industry

To justify another decision, that of granting a tax break to Philip Morris on heated tobacco, C. Costello claimed that she had obtained her own "Independent opinion on the effectiveness of heated tobacco as a smoking cessation tool." However, it has so far refused to reveal the sources of this independent opinion. It has finally published five documents which it says it drew on to justify its decision.

According to RNZ media[3]The minister's "independent opinion" consists of several outdated articles that deal with different products, only weakly support her point of view or come directly from the tobacco industry.

The first source, an article published in 2020[4] (IJERPH) on smoking habits in Japan shows that cigarette sales declined after the introduction of heated tobacco products. The study is based on data from the Japan Tobacco Institute and Philip Morris International. The Japan Tobacco Institute was established in 1987 and counts cigarette companies Japan Tobacco and Philip Morris among its founding members.

Another document - “A Decision-Theoretic Public Health Framework for Heated Tobacco and Nicotine Vaping Products”[5] - included cited sources all of whose authors worked for Philip Morris. It suggested that heated tobacco products could help people quit smoking, but that the benefits were less if heated products were used as a replacement for less harmful vaping products. It warned of the risk of encouraging nonsmokers to use tobacco or of encouraging former smokers to relapse.

A 190-page report from the UK's Royal College of Physicians[6], published in 2016, which does not specifically mention heated tobacco products, is among the documents produced. The report focuses on nicotine products other than tobacco, such as e-cigarettes. It states that it is important to carefully consider the role of nicotine products in smoking cessation in order to maximize their benefits for this purpose.

The study “Patterns of Smoking and Snus Use in Sweden: Implications for Public Health”[7] examines the relationship between snus use and smoking in Sweden. It does not mention heated tobacco products at all. Finally, the last article was an opinion piece published in the Lancet[8].

The opinion of the Public Treasury[9] to the minister, recently made public, also shows that officials told Mr Costello that there was no "no clear independent evidence that heated tobacco products are significantly less harmful than cigarettes." This notice specifies that "The World Health Organization says heated tobacco products should not be considered an aid to quitting smoking" and that "Philip Morris would be the main beneficiary of the tax cuts granted to heated tobacco products."

In an interview given on Wednesday, October 2, 2024 to RNZ, Casey Costello continues to affirm that he has no links with the tobacco industry and indicates "What we know is that heated tobacco as an alternative to tobacco is less harmful than tobacco, significantly less harmful."

©Generation Without Tobacco

AE

[1] Daniel Perese, Labor calls for Casey Costello to quit after her HTPs push went up in smoke, Te Ao Maori News, published October 2, 2024, accessed October 3, 2024

[2] In New Zealand, unlike in France, heated tobacco devices are considered vaping products.

[3] Russell Palmer, Casey Costello releases 'independent' advice on heated tobacco, RNZ, published October 3, 2024, accessed same day

[4] Cummings KM, Nahhas GJ, Sweanor DT. What Is Accounting for the Rapid Decline in Cigarette Sales in Japan? Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2020 May 20;17(10):3570. doi:10.3390/ijerph17103570. PMID: 32443663; PMCID: PMC7277739.

[5] Bosilkovska M, Tran CT, de La Bourdonnaye G, Taranu B, Benzimra M, Haziza C. Exposure to harmful and potentially harmful constituents decreased in smokers switching to Carbon-Heated Tobacco Product. Toxicol Lett. 2020 May 5;330:30-40. doi: 10.1016/j.toxlet.2020.04.013. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 32380119.

[6] UK Royal College of Physicians, Nicotine without smoke: tobacco harm reduction. London. RCP: 2016

[7] Ramström L, Borland R, Wikmans T. Patterns of Smoking and Snus Use in Sweden: Implications for Public Health. Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2016 Nov 9;13(11):1110. doi:10.3390/ijerph13111110. PMID: 27834883; PMCID: PMC5129320.

[8] Harnessing tobacco harm reduction, Beaglehole, Robert et al., The Lancet, Volume 403, Issue 10426, 512 - 514

[9] Guyon Espiner, 'Most benefit' of government's tobacco tax cuts will go to tobacco company Philip Morris, officials told Casey Costello, RNZ, published September 30, 2024, accessed October 3, 2024