At 81 and dependent on his mobility scooter, Mike Rodwell is on a new crusade to protect young people from the dangers of vaping.
The Arvida Oakwood’s resident has presented a short report on the dangers of vaping to the Tasman District Council and is heading to the Nelson City Council to do the same because he says young people need an advocate to stop them heading down an addictive path.
In his report, he points to a 2021 World Health report that states children using vapes double their chances of taking up cigarette smoking and he says the chemicals in vapes are still being evaluated, while no-one knows how vaping will affect respiratory health long term.
One of the reports he read on vaping referred to the breakdown of chemicals to produce formaldehyde and that spurred him into action.
“I’m a grandfather and I find this situation frightening. It’s only over a long period of time while children smoke these things that information emerges, and it’s too late by then. I feel the Minister of Health has let us down.”
The Government has introduced new regulations around vaping in an attempt to keep vapes out of the hands of young people, but Mike says it does not go far enough.
He says New Zealand should have followed the Australian path where vapes are only available through prescription. Instead, he says it has been open season in New Zealand with vape shops popping up everywhere.
“I don’t know where we’re heading, but it’s not looking good for our young people.”
He has witnessed the dangers of addiction. His brother died of throat cancer and was still smoking the day he died because he was so addicted.
“We’re now getting children who say they’re addicted to vaping and they can’t get off it.”
Mike has long been a crusader for community issues, which led to a term as a Nelson City Council councillor back in the early 80s, then leading the petition for the Stoke bypass. Now he feels it is time for grandparents to fight vaping because parents are busy with work and life, while school principals are busy running schools.
“It’s the grandparents in the community who might be the group with the time and life experience to fight this. I personally think vapes are a danger to public health and many of the young ones don’t have the maturity to make the right decisions about vaping.”
He realises the local councils are unlikely to be able to do much about vaping but hopes to encourage communities to speak out more against vaping and protect young people from long-term problems.
