New Zealand declared an intention to ban the sale of tobacco to its next generation. The move aims to create a ‘smoke-free’ generation.
Anyone born after 2008 will not be able to buy cigarettes or tobacco products in their lifetime.
The law will come into force next year. But, the minimum age to buy cigarettes would keep rising year after year.
“We want to make sure young people never start smoking,” Health Minister Dr Ayesha Verall said.
Doctors and other health experts in the country have welcomed the “world-leading” reforms, which will reduce access to tobacco and restrict nicotine levels in cigarettes.
“It will help people quit or switch to less harmful products, and make it much less likely that young people get addicted to nicotine,” said Prof Janet Hook from the University of Otago.
In an interview with The Associated Press, New Zealand’s Associate Health Minister Dr. Ayesha Verrall said her work at a public hospital in Wellington involved telling several smokers they had developed cancer.
“You meet, every day, someone facing the misery caused by tobacco,” Verrall further said. “The most horrible ways people die. Being short of breath, caused by tobacco.”
However, the new law wouldn’t impact vaping. Verrall said that tobacco smoking is far more harmful and remains a leading cause of preventable deaths in New Zealand, killing up to 5,000 people each year.
