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07 December
The second reading of the Smokefree
Environments and Regulated Products (Smoked Tobacco)
Amendment Bill passed in Parliament last night – landmark
legislation to ensure we achieve the goal of a Smokefree
Aotearoa by 2025.
Tupeka Kore is a collective of
academics, cessation experts and kaimahi Māori that are
accountable to Māori whānau, Hapū and Iwi who say that it
is encouraging to see those supporting the Bill.
Particularly important is the widespreadrecognition that
this Bill is essential to address entrenched health
inequities for Māori and whānau.
Public opinion,
including feedback from our communities, and the body of
evidence has been clear: this Bill is a chance at ensuring
New Zealanders’ health is no longer held hostage by
tobacco. The same evidence shows that without this
legislation, Māori are unlikely to reach the Smokefree 2025
goal alongside the general population.
Anaru Waa,
Spokesperson for Tupeka Kore and leading Māori Researcher
on Tobacco for Otago University says “There are four key
components, the first three are making nicotine no longer
addictive, reducing the ease of access to tobacco and
protecting our future generations from ever taking up
smoking. The fourth component is supporting Maori
communities and leaders who have been fundamental to
achieving this law”
This Bill has whakapapa to the
2010 Māori Affairs Select Committee Report that generated a
inquiry into the tobacco industry and the outcome of tobacco
use among Māori. This report identified a need for
legislative controls, and a by Māori, for Māori approach
to reducing smoking rates and the harm to Māori from
smoking.
“We know that retail profits from tobacco are
marginal and that customers buying tobacco do not drive
footfall or spend more when compared to the majority of
other customers who do not smoke. Cost to small retailers
are often called ‘zombie’ arguments that are supported
by the tobacco industry when their profits are threatened”
says Waa.
The criticism of aspects of the Bill by some
MPs therefore appears woefully out of touch with the
majority of New Zealanders, and indeed, those who suffer the
most from smoking related harms – whānau
Māori.
Selah Hart, Spokesperson for Tupeka Kore and
/CEO of Hāpai Te Hauora says “We can’t see any reason why
anyone other than those people who profit from these
products could possibly oppose these new laws. There is no
amount of profit that can excuse the almost 5,000 deaths and
many diseases caused by smoking per year in
Aotearoa.”
The design and marketing of cigarettes, and
the addictive nature of nicotine (a central nervous system
stimulant) alongside social inequity experienced by Māori
has created a perfect storm of vulnerability to harm from
tobacco. Research shows that reducing nicotine helps to
reduce the physical addiction to cigarettes, and therefore
removes a significant barrier to quitting.
Access to
tobacco retailers goes hand in hand with higher rates of
youth smoking, increased smoking among those who already
smoke and lower likelihood of quitting. Restricting numbers
of approved retailers protects our communities from the harm
caused by tobacco, and from the commodification of our
whānau hauora by tobacco companies.
“This Smokefree
Action Plan is already 10 years overdue, thatequates to more
than 50,000 loved ones and whānau members who have suffered
horrendously and died” says Hart.
There is nothing to
be gained from the sale of tobacco to our most vulnerable
communities other than profit for those that care little for
the protection of our whakapapa. Protection of our whakapapa
means ensuring our tamariki never start smoking in the first
place. The Bill makes the legal age of smoking one that
increases over time, protecting our tamariki from ever
accessing smoked tobacco legally.
The measures in this
Bill are long-awaited, well researched and provide the
opportunity for clear and decisive action on the inequity
faced by Māori in Aotearoa. Politicians must recognise the
responsibility they have to Māori to ensure that equal
citizenship means active protection of our health and
wellbeing.
Māori refuse to allow our health and
wellbeing to continue to be sold to the highest bidder, in
exchange for death, disease and
addiction.
© Scoop Media
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