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).
The bill provides for three key strategies:
- drastically reducing nicotine content in tobacco so it is no longer addictive (known as “denicotinisation” or “very low nicotine cigarettes” (VLNC))
- a 90% to 95% reduction in the number of shops that can sell tobacco
- making it illegal to sell tobacco to people born in 2009 or later (thus creating a “smokefree generation”).
If implemented effectively this is anticipated to have a profound impact on smoking.
Projected declines in smoking
Reducing Māori health inequity
If successful, this would be a monumental achievement for generations of tobacco-control advocates and researchers. The concept of a “tobacco endgame” will move beyond aspiration and into reality.
We’ve got to this point after decades of Māori leadership, research and advocacy, with the proposed legislation having its roots in the aim of reducing health inequities between Māori and non-Māori. This kaupapa (principle or policy) has driven the process and is supported by Māori communities.
The Conversation – 2022-07-26
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