Casey Costello (at long last) shows the information which she regarded as superior to the advice which Treasury gave her
Point of Order waited patiently for it to be posted on the Beehive website.
But no. Associate Health Minister Casey Costello has released her “independent advice” on heated tobacco products, but – at time of writing – she has not yet posted it on the official government website.
Our information therefore has come from RNZ, which tells us the five articles which comprise the minister’s advice deal with different products, are outdated, or only offer weak support for her view.
The five documents are not decisive on the benefits of the products (according to RNZ).
They include:
The five documents are not decisive on the benefits of the products (according to RNZ).
They include:
- A 190-page report from Royal College of Physicians in the UK, published in 2016 that does not specifically mention heated tobacco products
- An article from the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health (IJERPH) in 2022, suggesting HTPs may help with smoking cessation, but the benefits are reduced if HTPs are used as a replacement for less-harmful vaping, and warns it could encourage non-smokers to use tobacco or lead former smokers to relapse
- A 2016 article (IJERPH) indicating the use of a different tobacco product, Snus, ‘appears to facilitate’ smoking cessation in Sweden
- A 2020 article (IJERPH) about smoking patterns in Japan – where nicotine vaping is not used – showing cigarette sales decreased after the introduction of Heated Tobacco Products
- The final article was a comment piece published in the Lancet.
Here’s what we did find on the government’s official website –
Latest from the Beehive
4 October 2024
Agriculture Minister Todd McClay, and Rural Communities Minister Mark Patterson announced up to $50,000 in additional Government support for farmers and growers across Southland and parts of Otago as challenging spring weather conditions have been classified a medium-scale adverse event.
Trade and Agriculture Minister Todd McClay today welcomed a move by the European Commission to delay the implementation of the European Union’s Deforestation Regulation (EUDR) by 12 months …
The Government is taking decisive action in response to the Ministerial Inquiry into School Property, which concludes the way school property is delivered is not fit for purpose.
The Government has announced a new support programme for the residential construction market while the economy recovers, Housing Minister Chris Bishop and Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk say.
Environment Minister Penny Simmonds has confirmed the final appointee to the refreshed Environmental Protection Authority (EPA) board.
The Government has approved a $226.2 million package of resilience improvement projects for state highways and local roads across the country that will reduce the impact of severe weather events and create a more resilient and efficient road network.
Kiwis will see fewer potholes on our roads with road rehabilitation set to more than double through the summer road maintenance programme to ensure that our roads are maintained to a safe and reliable standard.
3 October 2024
Sir Jerry Mateparae has been announced as an independent moderator, to work with the Government of Papua New Guinea and the Autonomous Bougainville Government in resolving outstanding issues on Bougainville’s future.
The latest 2023 Census results released today further highlight New Zealand’s growing ethnic and cultural diversity, says Ethnic Communities Minister Melissa Lee.
Parents and caregivers are now able to claim for FamilyBoost, which provides low-to-middle-income families with young children payments to help them meet early childhood education (ECE) costs.
This week’s South Pacific Defence Ministers’ Meeting (SPDMM) has concluded with a renewed commitment to regional security of all types, Defence Minister Judith Collins says.
Associate Police Minister Casey Costello has welcomed the Police announcement that recruitment wings at the Police College will be expanded to 100 recruits next year.
Speech
The importance of our RMA reforms for better access to New Zealand’s valuable resources.
The RNZ report on the documents which Casey Costello released says a more recent report from the Royal College of Physicians also says the tobacco industry’s claims heated tobacco products are less harmful than cigarettes is “not yet supported by independent evidence”.
The 2022 article also highlights that while substantial research has been devoted to nicotine vaping products, “much less is known about HTPs”.
“Better information is needed to more precisely define the health risks of HTPs compared to cigarettes and NVPs, the relative appeal of HTPs to consumers, and the likelihood of later transitioning to smoking or quitting all products,” it states.
Costello gave preference to this independent advice over a long list of problems Treasury had identified with the proposal to go ahead with a 50 percent excise tax cut for HTPs, at a cost of up to $216 million.
Among the Cabinet papers and advice provided to Costello, a health analyst at Treasury also referred to a review by the Health Ministry of the most up-to-date available research which found “no compelling evidence of any benefit from the use of heated tobacco products”.
“The World Health Organisation asserts that claims of HTPs as a smoking cessation aid should not be made. We would also advise caution in highlighting positive outcomes from moving from smoked tobacco to Heated Tobacco Products,” the analyst said.
“The aforementioned rapid literature review also noted some evidence of harm from HTPs. This included risks of dependency and addiction, exposure to toxicants, cardiovascular impacts, chronic respiratory disease, and developmental impacts.”
RNZ reminds us that on Monday it revealed Treasury officials had told Costello that tobacco company Philip Morris would be the biggest winner from tax cuts for the products, which they said were toxic and more harmful than vaping.
Philip Morris’ IQOS device is the only heated tobacco product available in New Zealand.
Users insert sticks of tobacco into the device, which heats the tobacco to a vapour rather than burning it.
Treasury said it was not a given that Philip Morris would pass on the cut to consumers, given it had a monopoly in the market.
“It may be that the reduction in excise taxes is not passed through to consumers in price reductions, but rather is retained by the sole importer,” Treasury warned.
Costello initially declined to be interviewed by RNZ or reveal the sources of her independent advice, and did not address specific questions put to her before the story was published.
But she did say:
“I have no connections to the tobacco industry and it’s completely wrong to suggest that the tobacco industry has anything to do with these policies, which are aimed at helping people quit smoking.”
And obviously the advice from the Treasury was not up to snuff, when stacked alongside the information she found in other places.
Point of Order is a blog focused on politics and the economy run by veteran newspaper reporters Bob Edlin and Ian Templeton
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