New Zealand to ban smoking completely under radical plan

New Zealand has made a huge move to wipe out smoking entirely, with young people to be unable to buy cigarettes ever in their lifetime.

Teenage couple smoking. Picture: Shutterstock

New Zealand has taken a major step in its plan to get its smoking population under five per cent by 2025, with the move meaning many children will never be able to legally buy cigarettes in the country.

The new legislation means New Zealanders aged 14 or under will be banned from buying tobacco, even as adults.

Each year the legal smoking age will be increased, with a new age group added to the ban list until the country is completely smoke-free.

The new legislation was announced on Thursday, with New Zealand’s associate health minister, Ayesha Verrall, branding it a “historic day for the health of our people”.

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Under the new legislation, children currently under the age of 14 will never legally be allowed to buy cigarettes in the country. Picture: Shutterstock

“We want to make sure young people never start smoking so we will make it an offence to sell or supply smoked tobacco products to new cohorts of youth. People aged 14 when the law comes into effect will never be able to legally purchase tobacco,” Dr Verrall said.

“We are also reducing the appeal, addictiveness and availability of smoked tobacco products.”

She said more needs to be done to help New Zealand reach the goal of its Smokefree 2025 action plan.

“While smoking rates are heading in the right direction, we need to do more, faster to reach our goal,” she said.

“If nothing changes, it would be decades before Maori smoking rates fall below five per cent and this government is not prepared to leave anyone behind.”

The government will also be restricting the number of shops allowed to sell tobacco products, with just 500 stores nationwide issued with a licence to sell cigarettes.

Dr Verrall said retailers will be given time to transition before the changes come into effect.

“New laws will mean only smoked tobacco products containing very low-levels of nicotine can be sold, with a significant reduction in the number of shops who can sell them,” she said.

The move is part of Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern’s Smokefree 2025 action plan. Picture: Mark Mitchell/Getty Images

Call for smoking ban in Australia

Last month, public health experts called on Australia’s state and territory governments to set an end date for the sale of cigarettes through retailers.

In an article published in the Medical Journal of Australia, researchers from the University of Queensland said anti-smoking measures such as plain-packaging laws and health warnings were no longer enough, insisting Australia now needed to address the supply side of tobacco consumption.

The researchers said a product as harmful to consumers’ health as cigarettes should not be available for purchase in Australian supermarkets.

“Despite tobacco’s legal status, it fails to meet consumer safety standards,” the authors wrote.

“Consumer and drug regulatory systems would prohibit the sale of cigarettes as a new consumer product today.

“Governments should set target end dates for tobacco sales and support retailers to transition to a smoke‐free society.”

There is a call for a ban on Australian supermarkets selling cigarettes.

Lead author of the article and tobacco health expert Coral Gartner said Australia’s state governments were falling behind the general public in anti-smoking sentiment.

“Most international governments, including Australia, are lagging behind the significant public support for ending tobacco retailing,” Dr Gartner said.

“Research shows half of all adults in Australia, New Zealand, Canada, England and Hong Kong want tobacco sales phased out.”

Survey results published in the MJA on Monday found 52.8 per cent of respondents to a Victorian Cancer Council questionnaire were in-favour of phasing out the sale of cigarettes in retail outlets.

– with NCA NewsWire