Let’s Support Actions To Make Aotearoa New Zealand Smokefree By 2025

Better health and quality of life for all New Zealanders
will be the outcome if the proposed amendments to the
Smokefree Environments and Regulated Products (Smoked
Tobacco) Amendment Bill are passed. The New Zealand College
of Public Health Medicine (NZCPHM) supports the visionary
actions outlined in the Bill. The Bill places Aotearoa New
Zealand on track to be largely smoke-free by 2025.

Dr
Jim Miller, the President of the NZCPHM, says this
legislation has the potential to save lives. “Smoking
kills 5,000 people a year in Aotearoa New Zealand. Tobacco
is proven to cause a range of diseases that put additional
pressures on our health system, and we need to start
addressing the supply of tobacco. This legislation limits
the number of retailers selling tobacco products and that
will certainly have a positive impact in reducing tobacco
usage,” says Dr Miller

“It is pleasing to see the
Bill aims to prevent rangatahi and tamariki from starting
smoking. Age limits will be set to prohibit selling tobacco
products to anyone born after 2009. We believe this plan
will stop a whole generation of smokers being introduced to
smoking and its harms”

“Adult Māori smoking rates
are double that of all adult New Zealanders. We are
heartened to see that te Tiriti o Waitangi principles have
been placed at the heart of the new legislation and that iwi
will be consulted about the supply of tobacco in their own
areas”

“The proposal reducing nicotine in
cigarettes is definitely a step in the right direction.”
According to Dr Miller, there are significant advantages in
taking this action. “Overseas research shows that lowering
nicotine in cigarettes makes them less addictive and as a
result people are more likely to quit”.

“We are
pleased to see that this Bill aligns with the College’s A
Prescription for Health and Equity for All”, says Dr
Miller. “This is a strong public health initiative that we
fully
support.”

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