Smoking in New Zealand
In New Zealand, smoking is legal but subject to tobacco control regulations. Cigarettes are regulated as tobacco products and can be sold through retail outlets, including online sales and vending machines. The importation of cigarettes for trade is allowed with a trade license. Health warnings on packaging are mandatory, the legal minimum age for purchase is 18 years, and smoking in public places is subject to legal restrictions. A comprehensive ban on tobacco advertising is also in place. Cigarettes in New Zealand are taxed at a total rate of 82.78%, including an excise component of 69.74%. Data show that in 2024, the number of current smokers was recorded to be approximately 364,000 in New Zealand, corresponding to an adult smoking prevalence of 8.6%. In the same year, current smoking prevalence was slightly higher among males (9.7%) than among females (7.7%). In 2022, this prevalence was recorded to be 11.4%. In 2023, the adult daily tobacco smoking prevalence was reported to be 7.7%, with approximately 362,845 daily smokers. In 2021, smoking led to approximately 3,580 deaths in New Zealand, including 2,085 deaths among males and 1,495 deaths among females. In other words, tobacco smoking accounted for 10.38% of all deaths in the country in 2021, including11.78% of all male deaths and 8.9% of all female deaths.
Read articles from New Zealand
November 11, 2022 by scoop.co.nz
Vape Authors Hit Back On WHO’s Health Claims
Several leading international Tobacco Harm Reduction (THR) experts have compiled and published extensive research which slams the World Health Organization’s (WHO) official health claims about vaping.
Titled ‘The Subversion of Public Health: Consumer Perspectives’, the recently released white paper hits back at the WHO’s claim that ‘never-smoker minors who use ENDS (Electronic Nicotine Delivery Systems) can double their chance of starting to smoke tobacco cigarettes later in life.’
November 08, 2022 by clivebates.com
Using models disconnected from reality to justify huge ‘endgame’ interventions
In this blog, we take a look at modelling used to justify ‘endgame’ legislation under discussion in New Zealand. Among other things, this would reduce nicotine in cigarettes and other tobacco available through legal channels to minimal levels. We find the modelling and data assumptions bear no relation whatsoever to the underlying processes and the effects that such legislation would trigger. Deep cuts in smoking are assumed as inputs to the model. Unsurprisingly, therefore, the model results show deep cuts in smoking, and this determines the resulting health benefits. But the assumptions have no grounding in reality and misinterpret and misuse trial findings.
November 07, 2022 by qeios.com
Review of: Tobacco endgame intervention impacts on health gains and Māori:non-Māori health inequity: a simulation study of the Aotearoa-New Zealand Tobacco Action Plan
Building on recent progress towards the New Zealand Smokefree 2025 goal, the Government plans to introduce tobacco control legislation giving ministers powers to implement three significant new policies:
a steep reduction in the number of retail outlets that can sell tobacco;
a ‘smokefree generation’ proposal that would make it illegal to sell tobacco to anyone born after a certain date, and;
[...]
In preparation for this legislation, the Ministry of Health funded academics from Australia and New Zealand to model estimates of the likely impact of these measures, especially their contribution to achieving the Smokefree 2025 goal.
October 27, 2022 by nzherald.co.nz
Warning to vape importers, manufacturers over nicotine level confusion
Authorities have requested importers and manufacturers of vape products to review the nicotine concentrations, with the potential for products to be withdrawn if they exceeded limits.
This comes as TVNZ's Fair Go reported the Ministry of Health may have been given false or misleading information about the amount of nicotine in some products.
The Smokefree Environments and Regulated Products Act required products to be accurately labelled with the concentration of nicotine in mg/mL.
October 11, 2022 by scoop.co.nz
Proponents Also Concerned About Many Vape Shops
“It’s vaping advocates who first raised concerns about the proliferation of dairies becoming specialist vape retailers (SVRs). New Zealand’s Asthma and Respiratory Foundation’s (ARFNZ) latest round of public scaremongering is not helpful,” says Nancy Loucas, co-founder of Aotearoa Vapers Community Advocacy (AVCA). “Not one Kiwi has reportedly died from vaping, yet 5,000 die every year from smoking-related illnesses. Despite this, the ARFNZ continues to obsess about the most effective smoking cessation tool we have. Its latest media beat up doesn’t help one Kiwi quit tobacco nor help New Zealand achieve Smokefree Aotearoa 2025,” she says.
September 14, 2022 by scoop.co.nz
Expert Smokefree Submissions Deliver Answers - AVCA
“We are relying heavily on MPs to read and act on the valuable submissions to Parliament’s Health Select Committee which provide expert and practical solutions to help New Zealand achieve Smokefree Aotearoa 2025,” says Nancy Loucas co-founder of the Aotearoa Vapers Community Advocacy (AVCA). The Smokefree Environments and Regulated Products (Smoked Tobacco) Amendment Bill limits the number of retailers able to sell smoked tobacco products, aims to make tobacco products less appealing and addictive, and prohibits the sale of tobacco products to anyone born in 2009 or after.
September 06, 2022 by planetofthevapes.co.uk
Strong Reasons To Follow UK’s Success
The Coalition of Asia Pacific Tobacco Harm Reduction Advocates (CAPHRA) has welcomed the Action on Smoking and Health report showing vaping success in the United Kingdom. “Smoking in Britain is dramatically falling, largely because adults keen to quit have been able to switch to considerably less harmful vaping,” says Nancy Loucas, Executive Coordinator of CAPHRA.
Loucas’ comments come as the UK’s Action on Smoking and Health (ASH) released a report which it says shows a “vaping revolution” has taken place over the past decade. [...]
August 31, 2022 by nzherald.co.nz
Smoking bill: Foodstuffs, Z Energy oppose immediate limit of number of tobacco retailers
Foodstuffs NZ and Z Energy are lobbying the Government to drop a proposed immediate limit to the number of retailers able to sell tobacco products in an amendment bill deemed world-leading smoking legislation.
But the Cancer Society NZ says maintaining the thousands of tobacco retailers across the country will significantly hinder New Zealand's Smokefree 2025 aim.
The health select committee today heard public submissions on the bill, which would mean people aged 14 and under would never be able to legally buy tobacco and dramatically reduce nicotine levels.
August 23, 2022 by nzherald.co.nz
Science Digest: Do you know what's inside your vape?
New Zealand is on its way to curbing people's addiction to nicotine cigarettes, but is the switch to vaping or e-cigarettes any better for the public?
Increased prices, tough legislation and a growing awareness of health risks have pushed many smokers away from cigarettes. In its wake, vaping has exploded in popularity in New Zealand, with chain store Shosha now operating over 100 stores, while research shows there are more stores selling vaping products near schools than there are fast food joints.
Many teenagers and people who never tried cigarettes are now hooked on vaping, with many seeing it as a healthier option to smoking.
July 26, 2022 by theconversation.com
New Zealand’s ‘tobacco endgame’ law will be a world first for health – here’s what the modelling shows us
With the first reading of a new bill in parliament today, Aotearoa New Zealand’s plan to be smokefree by 2025 takes another tangible step forward.
The Smokefree Environments and Regulated Products (Smoked Tobacco) Amendment Bill will now go to the Health Select Committee for submissions and review, and (presumably) return to the House in late 2022 to be passed into law.
Assuming the final legislation looks similar to what is being proposed, it will mean Aotearoa New Zealand leapfrogs all other countries to be at the vanguard of tobacco control, with policy settings aimed at getting smoking prevalence beneath 5% of the adult population within years (not decades).