New Zealand has taken a similar approach towards e-cigarettes as that employed by the UAE and has seen mixed results in the number of smokers switching towards less harmful alternatives.
The country has around 550,000 daily smokers, and aims to be smoke free by 2025.
In 2017, the Cabinet of Social Policy Committee decided in principal to legalise the sale of e-cigarettes with appropriate controls, although a recent change of government has stalled those plans.
While individuals can import up to three-months supply of nicotine containing products for personal use, it is illegal to sell or supply the products.
________________
Read more from e-Cigarette Summit in Washington DC:
Support growing for e-cigarette revolution in anti-smoking crusade
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Despite the ban on sales, New Zealand allows vaping in smoke-free places.
“Current legislation in NZ is not ideal and has created a messy situation,” said Professor Hayden McRobbie, clinical director of the Dragon Institute for Innovation, and a professor in public health interventions at the Queen Mary University of London.
“Most people are in agreement there should be an 18 age restriction on using these products and further restrictions on advertising.
“There is also widespread agreement that e-cigarettes have the potential to make an impact on New Zealand’s 2025 smoke free goal and improve public health by offering a route out of smoking, without offering a gateway to smoking for children and non-smokers.”
Proposed changes to the law on e-cigarettes in the country include a ban on vaping in workplaces and other no-smoking areas, but to allow all retailers to display e-cigarettes and liquids at point of sale.
UAE smoking poll: only one in four have changed their habit since introduction of 'sin tax'
Restrictions on advertising and the sale to under-18s will remain prohibited.
The daily smoking rate is about 13.8 per cent of the population in New Zealand, but it is about 42 per cent in the indigenous Maori population.
In a nationwide survey, 17 per cent of smokers said they had tried e-cigarettes, and 3 per cent were regular users.
Amongst those who vape on a regular basis in New Zealand, a variety of reasons were given for taking up e-cigarettes, despite them being banned from sale.
Almost half who admitted using e-cigarettes said they did so to help quit smoking altogether with 46 per cent using e-cigarettes as they acknowledged them to be less harmful.
A further 36 per cent said they vaped as it was cheaper than tobacco, while 35 per cent said a preferred smell was the reason for switching.
Just 29 per cent said they took e-cigarettes to help reduce the number of conventional tobacco products they were smoking.
Read more: UAE's 'Sin tax' driving smokers towards cheaper brands
A survey of more than 600 smokers conducted by The National in March found more than half had tried e-cigarettes or e-pipes for a nicotine hit in the UAE since a 100 per cent ‘sin tax’ had been introduced in October.
“It is clear these products are aimed at people who smoke, but the best advice remains that they should be looking to quit smoking completely,” Mr McRobbie said.
“We should be supporting people who have tried to quit and failed, by encouraging the use of e-cigarettes.”
The burning issue
The internal combustion engine is facing a watershed moment – major manufacturer Volvo is to stop producing petroleum-powered vehicles by 2021 and countries in Europe, including the UK, have vowed to ban their sale before 2040. The National takes a look at the story of one of the most successful technologies of the last 100 years and how it has impacted life in the UAE.
Read part four: an affection for classic cars lives on
Read part three: the age of the electric vehicle begins
Read part one: how cars came to the UAE
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Company Profile
Name: Thndr
Started: 2019
Co-founders: Ahmad Hammouda and Seif Amr
Sector: FinTech
Headquarters: Egypt
UAE base: Hub71, Abu Dhabi
Current number of staff: More than 150
Funds raised: $22 million
T20 WORLD CUP QUALIFIERS
Qualifier A, Muscat
(All matches to be streamed live on icc.tv)
Fixtures
Friday, February 18: 10am Oman v Nepal, Canada v Philippines; 2pm Ireland v UAE, Germany v Bahrain
Saturday, February 19: 10am Oman v Canada, Nepal v Philippines; 2pm UAE v Germany, Ireland v Bahrain
Monday, February 21: 10am Ireland v Germany, UAE v Bahrain; 2pm Nepal v Canada, Oman v Philippines
Tuesday, February 22: 2pm Semi-finals
Thursday, February 24: 2pm Final
UAE squad:Ahmed Raza(captain), Muhammad Waseem, Chirag Suri, Vriitya Aravind, Rohan Mustafa, Kashif Daud, Zahoor Khan, Alishan Sharafu, Raja Akifullah, Karthik Meiyappan, Junaid Siddique, Basil Hameed, Zafar Farid, Mohammed Boota, Mohammed Usman, Rahul Bhatia
The specs
Engine: 2.7-litre 4-cylinder Turbomax
Power: 310hp
Torque: 583Nm
Transmission: 8-speed automatic
Price: From Dh192,500
On sale: Now
'Young girls thinking of big ideas'
Words come easy for aspiring writer Afra Al Muhairb. The business side of books, on the other hand, is entirely foreign to the 16-year-old Emirati. So, she followed her father’s advice and enroled in the Abu Dhabi Education Council’s summer entrepreneurship course at Abu Dhabi University hoping to pick up a few new skills.
“Most of us have this dream of opening a business,” said Afra, referring to her peers are “young girls thinking of big ideas.”
In the three-week class, pupils are challenged to come up with a business and develop an operational and marketing plan to support their idea. But, the learning goes far beyond sales and branding, said teacher Sonia Elhaj.
“It’s not only about starting up a business, it’s all the meta skills that goes with it -- building self confidence, communication,” said Ms Elhaj. “It’s a way to coach them and to harness ideas and to allow them to be creative. They are really hungry to do this and be heard. They are so happy to be actually doing something, to be engaged in creating something new, not only sitting and listening and getting new information and new knowledge. Now they are applying that knowledge.”
Afra’s team decided to focus their business idea on a restaurant modelled after the Leaning Tower of Pisa. Each level would have a different international cuisine and all the meat would be halal. The pupils thought of this after discussing a common problem they face when travelling abroad.
“Sometimes we find the struggle of finding halal food, so we just eat fish and cheese, so it’s hard for us to spend 20 days with fish and cheese,” said Afra. “So we made this tower so every person who comes – from Africa, from America – they will find the right food to eat.”
rpennington@thenational.ae
BEETLEJUICE BEETLEJUICE
Starring: Winona Ryder, Michael Keaton, Jenny Ortega
Director: Tim Burton
Rating: 3/5
Milestones on the road to union
1970
October 26: Bahrain withdraws from a proposal to create a federation of nine with the seven Trucial States and Qatar.
December: Ahmed Al Suwaidi visits New York to discuss potential UN membership.
1971
March 1: Alex Douglas Hume, Conservative foreign secretary confirms that Britain will leave the Gulf and “strongly supports” the creation of a Union of Arab Emirates.
July 12: Historic meeting at which Sheikh Zayed and Sheikh Rashid make a binding agreement to create what will become the UAE.
July 18: It is announced that the UAE will be formed from six emirates, with a proposed constitution signed. RAK is not yet part of the agreement.
August 6: The fifth anniversary of Sheikh Zayed becoming Ruler of Abu Dhabi, with official celebrations deferred until later in the year.
August 15: Bahrain becomes independent.
September 3: Qatar becomes independent.
November 23-25: Meeting with Sheikh Zayed and Sheikh Rashid and senior British officials to fix December 2 as date of creation of the UAE.
November 29: At 5.30pm Iranian forces seize the Greater and Lesser Tunbs by force.
November 30: Despite a power sharing agreement, Tehran takes full control of Abu Musa.
November 31: UK officials visit all six participating Emirates to formally end the Trucial States treaties
December 2: 11am, Dubai. New Supreme Council formally elects Sheikh Zayed as President. Treaty of Friendship signed with the UK. 11.30am. Flag raising ceremony at Union House and Al Manhal Palace in Abu Dhabi witnessed by Sheikh Khalifa, then Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi.
December 6: Arab League formally admits the UAE. The first British Ambassador presents his credentials to Sheikh Zayed.
December 9: UAE joins the United Nations.
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What is graphene?
Graphene is extracted from graphite and is made up of pure carbon.
It is 200 times more resistant than steel and five times lighter than aluminum.
It conducts electricity better than any other material at room temperature.
It is thought that graphene could boost the useful life of batteries by 10 per cent.
Graphene can also detect cancer cells in the early stages of the disease.
The material was first discovered when Andre Geim and Konstantin Novoselov were 'playing' with graphite at the University of Manchester in 2004.
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BORDERLANDS
Starring: Cate Blanchett, Kevin Hart, Jamie Lee Curtis
Director: Eli Roth
Rating: 0/5