New Zealand is going to overturn its historic tobacco ban
The world’s first rule prohibiting tobacco sales to minors will be repealed in New Zealand on Tuesday, the government announced, despite warnings from campaigners and researchers about the possibility of fatalities.
The world’s strictest anti-tobacco regulations, which were scheduled to go into effect in July, would have lowered the amount of nicotine in smoked tobacco products, prohibited sales to anybody born after January 1, 2009, and eliminated more than 90% of tobacco merchants.
As previously mentioned, the newly elected coalition government, which was chosen in October, affirmed on Tuesday that the law will be repealed urgently. This will allow them to do away with the requirement for public comment.
The coalition administration, according to Associate Health Minister Casey Costello, is dedicated to lowering smoking rates, but it is adopting a different regulatory strategy to deter smoking and lessen its harmful effects.
Costello declared, “I will shortly be taking a package of measures to cabinet to increase the tools available to help people quit smoking.” To discourage youth, he also indicated that vaping laws would be tightened.
The decision has been criticism because to concerns that it may have a more significant effect on the Maori and Pasifika populations, who have higher rates of smoking. It has also been strongly criticized for its anticipated influence on health outcomes in New Zealand.
According to researcher Janet Hoek from Otago University, repeal will not improve health inequities, would be inconsistent with substantial research evidence, and would disregard measures strongly backed by Maori leaders.
According to Hoek, co-director of a team researching smoking cessation strategies, “Large-scale clinical trials and modelling studies show the legislation would have rapidly increased the rates of quitting among smokers and made it much harder for young people to take up smoking.”
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