Why did New Zealand repeal its pioneering and highly praised anti-tobacco law?

At the end of 2021, then Prime Minister New ZealandJacinda Ardern, declared a pioneer anti-tobacco lawaimed at creating smoke-free generation and thereby save thousands of lives. Their proposal was so well received by global health policymakers that other countries announced they would join. However, there was not even time for the law to come into force yet. New New Zealand government already canceled itwithout hiding the reasons for this: money.

New Zealand’s Anti-Smoking Act mandated an annual increase in the legal smoking age. Currently, as in many other countries, he is about 18 years old. It would remain so until 2026, since this year it will be raised to 19. And so every year another year. Thus, the time will come when the youngest will never be allowed to smoke. This may seem very strict, but it would save millions of lives and millions of dollars in health care.

However, during the election campaign, the new government of the country announced historic tax cuts and to do something like this, you need to raise money somehow. Given that the tobacco industry is very profitable for the state, the decision was obvious for the right-wing coalition that now leads New Zealand.

Goodbye to New Zealand’s groundbreaking anti-smoking law

New Finance Minister Nicholas Willis, was responsible for announcing the repeal of the anti-smoking law. They did not do this on the part of the Ministry of Health, since the only motivation for making such a decision was economic.

The tobacco industry contributes to New Zealand about 2 billion dollars in tax revenues. So it’s a good way to raise money that would otherwise be cut in taxes.

Initiatives such as Ardern’s anti-smoking bill may represent savings of $1.3 billion in health issues in the next 20 years. This does not yet compensate for the profits from the sale of tobacco, so it was not a sufficient reason for the new government.

There were no lives that could have been saved. The World Health Organization (WHO) notes in one of its reports on tobacco that every year approximately 8 million people for your business. Of these, 7 million are associated with direct consumption, and the remaining million are passive smokers. People who did not choose to smoke and who, nevertheless, experienced its consequences, which cost them their lives.

These numbers would plummet if there were a smoke-free generation proposed by this anti-tobacco law. Fortunately, other countries are continuing this initiative. Let’s hope that the new leaders who come to their governments will not put money above the health of their citizens.

Other countries continue to move forward

Achieving a smoke-free generation is just one of many measures recommended by WHO for smoking cessation. health problems caused by smoking. Other examples of measures include the development of health campaigns to help people quit smoking, illustrated health warnings, increased taxes on tobacco companies, and controls on other nicotine products such as e-cigarettes.

In the same year, the Director General of the Organization, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, said only four countries in the world have a full package of measures that meets most of its recommendations. This Brazil, Mauritius, Türkiye and the Netherlands. Only one country per continent. In the European Union we only have the Netherlands, although the numbers are appalling. According to Eurostat, about 18.4% of the population over 15 years of age reported that they smoked daily in 2019, with the rate ranging from 28.7% in Bulgaria to 6.4% in Sweden.

At least some countries have passed anti-smoking laws similar to the one New Zealand is now repealing. This is the case with Portugal, which has also proposed creating a smoke-free generation.

It is clear that there is a lot of work to be done around the world. Faster or slower, the main thing is to take steps forward. Unfortunately they started out as pioneers in New Zealand but have now become a big step back.