New Zealand issues emergency warning for some e-cigarettes

Oct.28.2022
New Zealand issues emergency warning for some e-cigarettes
New Zealand issues emergency safety alert for some e-cigarette products containing excessive nicotine amount.

On October 27th, the New Zealand Ministry of Health issued an urgent safety alert regarding certain electronic cigarette products.


Electronic cigarettes in New Zealand are allowed to contain nicotine salt at levels of up to 50 milligrams per milliliter, although some people have misunderstood this to mean that 50 milligrams of nicotine are permitted, which is much higher than what the law actually allows.


Retailers have been advised to inspect their products for extremely high levels of nicotine in certain e-cigarettes and may need to immediately remove some products from their shelves. An official notice has been issued to retailers and manufacturers to promptly take down the affected products.


Fair Go has been investigating this issue and has now submitted its findings to the Ministry of Health. Just a few hours ago, the Ministry of Health issued a warning to retailers and manufacturers.


A copy seen by Fair Go shows that the Ministry of Health's e-cigarette regulator has stated that in some cases, the notifier appears to have provided false or misleading information regarding the nicotine content in their product notifications.


The emergency alert instructs retailers to inspect their product labels and remove any non-compliant products from shelves, or else face enforcement actions.


The Ministry of Health has confirmed that if brought to court, fines up to a maximum of 400,000 US dollars could be imposed.


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