New Zealand to ban cigarettes for future generations

New Zealand will ban the sale of tobacco to the next generation to phase out smoking. People born after 2008 will not be able to buy cigarettes or tobacco products while they are alive, according to a law expected to take effect next year.

“We want to ensure that young people never start smoking,” said Health Minister Dr. Ayesha Verall. The move is part of a radical anti-smoking campaign announced by New Zealand’s Department of Health on Thursday.

The “world-leading” reforms will limit access to tobacco and limit the nicotine content of cigarettes.” It will help people quit smoking or switch to less harmful products, and make young people much less likely to become addicted to nicotine,” said Professor Janet Hook of the University of Otago.

It’s a really good move,” a man told Reuters. “Because right now there are a lot of little kids walking around with cigarettes in their mouths. The public asks how they get these cigarettes.“And it’s also good for me because I can save more money.

However, others have warned that the measure could create a black market for tobacco, acknowledging the official statement on the impact of the Department of Health, noting that “customs will need more resources to enforce border controls.  “This is all 100% theory and 0% substance,” Sunny Kaushal, president of the Dairy and Business Owners Group, a local grocery lobby group, told the news site Stuff Will Be A Crime Wave Gangs and criminals will fill the gap.

A dog sniffs a hole in a cigarette case in the wall. Increase in smoking among young people during confinement due to Covid. of New Zealand, adults smoke, with a much higher rate among the indigenous Maori population, where it rises to almost a third. Maori also suffer from higher rates of disease and death.

According to the New Zealand Department of Health, smoking causes one in four types of cancer and remains the leading preventable killer for its five million people. The industry has been targeted by legislators for more than a decade. As part of the campaign announced on Thursday, the government has also introduced sweeping tobacco controls, including a significant restriction on where cigarettes can be sold to remove them from supermarkets and grocery stores.

The number of stores licensed to sell cigarettes will be reduced from around 8,000 currently to fewer than 500, officials say. In recent years, vaping (smoking electronic cigarettes, which produce a vapor that also releases nicotine) has become much more popular than cigarettes among younger generations.

However, New Zealand’s health authorities warn that vaping is not without its dangers. Researchers have also found dangerous carcinogens in e-cigarette liquids. But in 2017, the country embraced vaping as a way to help smokers quit.

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