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
June 14, 2021 by scoop.co.nz
NZ Should Move To Low Nicotine Cigarettes, BiotechNZ Says
The Ministry of Health’s move toward a smoke free Aotearoa by 2025, genetic engineering and genetic technologies for low nicotine cigarettes could play a major part in ensuring the success a leading biotech expert says.
Government set a goal in 2011 for less than five percent of New Zealanders to be smokers by 2025. Nearly 85 percent of New Zealanders are currently smoke free. Several techniques are mentioned in the ministry’s 2025 smoke free Aotearoa action plan. But only genetic engineering and technologies provide a means to produce very low nicotine tobacco at the scale needed to break nicotine's addictive cycle, [...] Dr Zahra Champion says.
June 08, 2021 by rnz.co.nz
How vaping can be a smokefree weapon
Over the past few months a spate of high school principals in New Zealand have spoken out about a hazy, sickly-sweet 'epidemic' emerging in their schools: vaping, or e-cigarettes. Vaping is held up by anti-smoking advocates as a game-changer in helping people addicted to tobacco wean themselves off it.
And while statistics show smoking is on the decline throughout New Zealand, there is evidence that vaping is enjoying an ascendency.
May 31, 2021 by scoop.co.nz
Are The Flavours Added To E-cigarettes Safe?
University of Otago food scientists have received an Explorer Grant from the Health Research Council of New Zealand (HRC) to develop novel testing methods that will enable regulatory bodies in New Zealand to evaluate the unknown safety and long-term health effects of flavours commonly added to the liquids used in e-cigarettes.
Lead researcher Dr Graham Eyres, who has significant experience researching flavours used in the food industry, says the flavourings added to the liquids used with e-cigarettes or vaping devices are currently regulated under the Food Standards Code. [...]
May 27, 2021 by tvnz.co.nz
Vaping, e-cigarettes not going to be healthy in long-term, researcher warns as teen use rises
In 2019, a survey of 30,000 year 10 students found more than a third had tried e-cigarettes, with three per cent saying they vaped daily — higher than the rate who consider themselves regular smokers.
As of earlier this month, no vaping signs must now be displayed in schools, kura, ECEs and kōhanga reo.
Hobsonville Point School principal Maurie Abraham says it’s harder to deter teenagers from vaping because it’s widely considered to be less harmful than cigarettes.
“I think we’ve been winning the battle with cigarette smoking with teenagers over the years,” he said.
May 13, 2021 by scoop.co.nz
Is Vaping The Way To A Smokefree Aotearoa?
E-cigarettes made their debut in the early 2000s as a potential cessation device or an alternative to cigarette products. Almost twenty years later, the long term effects of e-cigarettes are still unknown.
In 2011, the New Zealand Government set a goal to be Smoke-free by 2025 and just last month it released a discussion document on Proposals For A Smokefree Aotearoa 2025 Action Plan. Nancy Loucas, co-director of Aotearoa Vapers Community Advocacy (AVCA), says the plan acknowledges vaping, but it fails to support it as a key factor to achieving a smoke-free nation.
May 05, 2021 by sciblogs.co.nz
Smokefree outdoor areas: A missing part of Government’s new Smokefree 2025 proposals
The NZ Government is to be congratulated with its recent proposals for achieving the Smokefree 2025 Goal, especially with those for markedly reducing retail outlets and removing nicotine to make cigarettes non-addictive. If effectively implemented, these proposals could lead to major health gains, health system cost savings and reducing the unequal health burdens that Māori, Pasifika and low-income New Zealanders suffer. But a major missing part is national law-based smokefree outdoor areas.
April 16, 2021 by scoop.co.nz
Low Nicotine Ciggies Will Drive Up Poverty
“New Zealand smokers will who can least afford it will spend more on their habit and in turn do harm to those around them if the Government mandates lower nicotine in tobacco,” says ACT Social Development and Children spokesperson Karen Chhour.
“We knew this Government was dim but trying to wean smokers off nicotine by making them smoke more tar takes the cake.
“And we know Labour won’t cut taxes, so they’ll be increasing the tax on nicotine by a factor of 20, hitting poorer New Zealanders hardest.
April 15, 2021 by nzherald.co.nz
Smokefree New Zealand: Government looks at limiting nicotine, age restrictions in 2025 goal
The Government is suggesting limiting the amount of nicotine allowed in cigarettes.
It is one of a number of proposals being put forward to meet its goal of making New Zealand smoke-free by 2025.
Others include restricting where cigarettes can be sold and creating a licensing regime.
The Government is also talking about creating a smoke-free generation, where people who are under 18 next year will never be able to buy cigarettes.
March 31, 2021 by rnz.co.nz
Cancer Society launches petition to restrict number of tobacco sale outlets
The Cancer Society has today launched a petition calling for a significant reduction in the number of stores that are able to sell tobacco. Between 3000 and 4000 shops sell tobacco in New Zealand, but the society would like that to drop as low as 200.
It said only drastic action can help the country reach its Smokefree 2025 goal, and combat health issues which kill up to 11 people a day. More than half a million adults are thought to be smokers in New Zealand, and each year about 4000 people die from smoking-related issues.
February 08, 2021 by nzherald.co.nz
Sharp rise in smoking linked to loneliness in lockdown
People who felt distressed and lonely during the country's lockdown last autumn were three times more likely to smoke more, a new study has found. Dr Every-Palmer said people who felt lonely or isolated almost all the time were more than three times more likely to increase their cigarette intake than those who were never lonely. "This finding was not related to whether people lived alone or with others, which suggests living alone is not necessarily the same as being lonely," she said. "Future pandemic planning could also examine how people can retain feelings of connection."