Read articles from New Zealand
January 26, 2024 by rnz.co.nz
Health Advocates, Opposition Slam Associate Health Minister Casey Costello's Proposed Tax Freeze
Anti-smoking advocates and politicians are taking aim at Associate Health Minister Casey Costello after RNZ revealed she was looking into a three-year freeze on a tobacco tax.
January 26, 2024 by 1news.co.nz
Tax Freeze for Cigarettes in NZ First Minister's Plans
NZ First's Associate Health Minister Casey Costello has a lot of ideas about the regulation of tobacco - many of them will be controversial.
January 26, 2024 by kiwiblog.co.nz
ASH Says Current Policies Working to Make Smoke Free Target
Our decline in smoking in the past four years is extraordinary – equivalent to what took two decades to achieve. New Zealand has recently had some of the most dramatic decreases in smoking in the world, including for Māori and highly deprived groups.
January 26, 2024 by kiwiblog.co.nz
ASH Says Current Policies Working to Make Smoke Free Target
Our decline in smoking in the past four years is extraordinary – equivalent to what took two decades to achieve. New Zealand has recently had some of the most dramatic decreases in smoking in the world, including for Māori and highly deprived groups.
January 18, 2024 by theconversation.com
Reducing nicotine in tobacco would help people quit – without prohibiting cigarettes
Supporters of the new government’s plan to repeal Aotearoa New Zealand’s smokefree legislation have claimed victory against “prohibition”. Introduced under Jacinda Ardern’s government, the smokefree law came into effect in January 2023 and included a commitment to introduce mandated “denicotinisation” (cutting the nicotine to levels that are no longer addictive) of smoked tobacco products. Studies estimated this measure would have greatly reduced smoking and helped prevent avoidable death and suffering. However, opponents, notably the tobacco industry and its allies, criticised the measure as “prohibition”.
January 11, 2024 by colinmendelsohn.com.au
New Zealand well on track to be smokefree next year
Almost a quarter of a million fewer Kiwis are now smoking daily, and it puts us in a tiny club of countries that have smoking rates under 7 per cent. What we have in common with these successful countries is people switching from smoked tobacco to less harmful alternatives. To reach the smoking goal of 5 per cent or less (that is, 95 per cent or more of all adults being “smokefree”), around 100,000 smokers need to quit over the next two years. Our decline in smoking in the last four years is extraordinary - equivalent to what took two decades to achieve. The unprecedented progress shown in the New Zealand Health Survey should have been a cause to celebrate. [...]
January 09, 2024 by youtube.com
Prof. Marewa Glover Comments On New Zealand Scrapping The World-First Smoking 'Generation Ban'
We sit down with Prof. Marewa Glover to discuss the recent THR news from New Zealand.
December 13, 2023 by nzherald.co.nz
Snuff and chewing tobacco could be legalised to help smokers quit - but researchers are sceptical about the benefits
Snuff and smokeless tobacco are being considered as tools to help smokers quit under the new Government’s smokefree plans. And while those products have contributed to reduced smoking rates overseas, New Zealand experts on tobacco control are sceptical about whether they would be successful here. The National-led Government has promised to scrap the previous government’s anti-smoking laws, prompting widespread condemnation from the healthcare sector and generating global headlines.
December 06, 2023 by filtermag.org
New Zealand Splits Opinion by Scrapping Smoking Ban
New Zealand’s new coalition government plans to abandon the country’s world-first policy of an incremental smoking ban, in order to fund tax cuts. Just as the original policy divided expert opinion, so has news of its repeal. [...] Proponents said that this and other measures in the package, like reducing the number of tobacco retailers by 90 percent and cutting the legal amount of nicotine in cigarettes, would help the country reach its goal of being “smokefree” (prevalence below 5 percent) by 2025. No similar restrictions were imposed on vape sales.
November 27, 2023 by bbc.com
New Zealand smoking ban: Health experts criticise new government's shock reversal
New Zealand's new government says it plans to scrap the nation's world-leading smoking ban to fund tax cuts. The legislation, introduced under the previous Jacinda Ardern-led government, would have banned cigarette sales next year to anyone born after 2008. Smoking is the leading cause of preventable deaths in New Zealand, and the policy had aimed to stop young generations from picking up the habit. Health experts have strongly criticised the sudden reversal. "We are appalled and disgusted... this is an incredibly retrograde step on world-leading, absolutely excellent health measures," said Prof Richard Edwards, a tobacco control researcher and public health expert at the University of Otago.