Document 2
Memo
Post-market surveil ance testing of vaping products
Date:
24 June 2024
To:
Dr Andrew Old, Deputy Director-General, Public Health Agency | Te Pou Hauora
Tūmatanui
Cc:
Jane Chambers, Group Manager, Public Health Policy and Regulation, Public Health
Agency | Te Pou Hauora Tūmatanui
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From:
Gil Hal , Manager Ope te Tatua, Public Health Agency | Te Pou Hauora Tūmatanui
For your: Action
Purpose of report
1.
This memo raises risks and issues with the current vaping product testing ap
Information proach and seeks
your endorsement of the future direction of post-market testing as we develop a product
strategy.
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Issue with current post-market surveillance testing
Background to the current testing programme
2.
One of the purposes and intent of the Smokefree Environments and Regulated Products Act
(the Act) is to minimise harm and regulate the safety of vaping products. The Act and
regulations require manufacturers to test their products annual y and report the results to the
Director-General of Health (DG). Section 71 of the Act al ows the DG to request additional
safety information about a product if they have reasonable safety concerns about a product.
3.
The Ministry of Health (the Ministry) contracted ESR in January 2023 to perform post-market
surveil ance testing for regulated products. There is no strategy in place which guides what
product testing should be undertaken, including what action is required following receipt of
tes ing results.
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4.
This testing programme was introduced by the Vaping Regulatory Authority (VRA) as part of
a suite of testing and scientific analysis (method development, quality assurance testing,
environmental sampling, and understanding the vape product landscape) aiming to support
the regulatory functions of the VRA, and to give effect to the (now repealed) 2022
amendments to the Act relating to the Tobacco Regulatory Authority (TRA).
5.
The Ministry positions vaping products as harm-reduction tools only to be used by people
who smoke cigarettes. It would be reasonable to expect vaping products to contain the level
of nicotine they claim to have, so consumers can make informed choices when deciding what
products to use on their journey to quit smoking.
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Recommendations
It is recommended that you:
1
Endorse testing option 3- surveil ance testing of 250 products annual y,
Yes/No
and stage two (triplicate testing) where required.
2.
Note
the VRA wil update you quarterly on the product testing results.
Noted
3
Note
the VRA wil develop a product strategy by the end of July 2024.
Noted
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Signature
_____________________
Date: 5 July 2024
Dr Andrew Old
Deputy Director General
Information
Public Health Agency | Te Pou Hauora Tūmatanui
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Document 2
Appendix 2 – testing for other substances.
1.
Currently the most useful information we receive from the ESR testing programme is nicotine
concentration as it’s the active ingredient in vapes, and it’s legislated for.
2.
Propylene glycol and glycerine (PG/VG) are tested as a package with nicotine. PG/VG ratios
can be important from a consumer experience perspective, as they affect the ‘mouth feel’ of
vapour, but there are no known safety considerations.
3.
The Regulations prescribe a list of prohibited compounds that vaping substances cannot
contain, and an additional list of prohibited compounds that have a maximum concentration
limit. While the VRA can request these compounds be tested for, routine or surveil ance
testing for al or some of the prohibited compounds would be expensive to implement and
have limited benefit in terms of safety or compliance action.
4.
Any changes to what chemical compounds we direct ESR to detect and quantify is likely to
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increase costs substantial y as al tests wil need to be validated prior to entering routine use
and many wil require purchase of reference standards. There wil also be a time delay in
when these tests can become routine as it takes time to validate these tests.
5.
Some of the prohibited compounds would only be detected if they had been purposefully
added (eg, caffeine, taurine, prohibited sweeteners). They’re unlikely to be introduced to the
vaping substance by accident. It would be most beneficial to test specific products if we had
other evidence that these products contained these compounds.
Information
6.
Our recommended approach is to review and rank the many compounds and additives that
could be present in vaping products and carry out smal scale pilot tests on those that are
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most harmful and most likely to be present. Where issues are indicated through the pilot
testing, we wil investigate further. We wil develop this as part of the ongoing programme.
A specific note about testing for heavy metals:
7.
Heavy metals are often cited in literature about the health harms of vaping.
8.
There are two potential sources of heavy metal contamination in vaping products – vaping
substance ingredients and the metal wire used for the coil. As the coil heats it wil shed heavy
metals into the vapour. This is supported by the research below showing that increased
vaping resulted in higher heavy metal biomarkers.
9.
The current testing methodology wil not detect contamination from coils, as that requires
regular use of the vaping device.
A specific note about testing for flavour compounds:
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10. It has been suggested that testing for specific flavour compounds may be useful to
determine whether a product has the same flavour it claims to have, or to ensure that a
product is suitable for sale in a GVR (ie, it is only mint, menthol or tobacco flavour).
11. Flavour chemistry is complex to test for. There are a lot of individual chemical compounds
that make up what we perceive as a flavour. For example, vanil a flavour can consist of 3-4
different vanil in compounds. There is also a lot of overlap in chemical compounds for
different flavours, the same compound may appear in a flavour labelled coconut or peach.
12. At the moment, a chemical test for flavour compounds is not a good indicator of how the
flavour or aroma wil be perceived. This is not specific to vaping substances, many flavour
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profiles of food ingredients are determined by a mixture of chemical assay, and taste and
aroma testing by humans.
13. The cost of testing for flavours as a surveil ance tool is prohibitive. This is because of the
number of reference standards required and the time needed to analyse the results.
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Document 3
Appendix 1 – Draft 2025-26 Annual Plan
Available on Sharepoint
Appendix 2 – Previous approval memo
Available on Sharepoint
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Page 4 of 4
Document 4
Proportion of vaping products tested in each concentration bracket
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Jan/Feb
Apr/May
2023 total 2024 total 2025
2025
0 to 28.5 mg/mL
59.80%
80.17%
82.54%
86.21%
28.5 to 31.85 mg/mL
5.51%
7.37%
4.76%
6.90%
31.85 to 35 mg/mL
2.43%
2.13%
3.17%
0.00%
35 to 50 mg/mL
24.29%
6.76%
7.94%
3.45%
Information
More than 50 mg/mL
7.96%
3.57%
1.59%
3.45%
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