Health care associations and tribal groups are criticizing the future repeal of the ambitious anti-smoking law
Health associations criticized New Zealand's new Conservative government for its plan on Monday An ambitious law to phase out tobacco sales should be reversed Starting in 2027.
The new administration, which took office this Monday, announced that it would repeal the law, which was approved in 2022 and established that people born in 2009 would never be able to buy tobacco in the country, with the aim of funding tax cuts.
“Our communities have unequivocally spoken out against the tobacco companies' control over their (family, Maori) well-being and future. Rich in Aotearoa (New Zealand),” denounces the Maori health association Hpai Te Hauora.
The group describes it as “a disproportionate blow to the health and well-being of all New Zealanders”, highlighting that Indigenous peoples have the highest rates of smoking and related diseases, it points out in a report.
According to official data, Smoking is the leading cause of preventable death in New Zealand And public health models suggest that the aforementioned anti-smoking law would save 5,000 lives a year.
In December 2022, the Labor government, which lost power in the October elections, was able to approve a rule that people born on or after January 1, 2009 – and turning 18 in 2027 – could never buy tobacco. By law in New Zealand. The legislation was passed despite opposition from the National Party and the liberal right-wing Consumers and Taxpayers Association (ACT), then in opposition.
However, after recent elections, the Nationals – who won the referendum – formed a three-way coalition with ACT and the nationalist New Zealand First Party to form a government.
On Saturday, before being sworn in, new finance minister Nicola Willis said: The Coalition government will scrap ambitious anti-smoking legislation to fund tax cuts Promised during the election, it was pushed mainly by ACT and New Zealand First.
“The idea that tax cuts are going to be paid for by people who continue to smoke is absolutely shocking,” Smoke-Free New Zealand president Robert Beaglehole told the Pacific Media Network.
By 2022, the Ministry of Health predicts that treating various types of cancer will save the health system 5 billion New Zealand dollars (about 3,042 million dollars or 2,778 million euros) over the next 20 years. Tobacco-related heart attack and disability.
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