New Zealand has announced proposals aimed at curbing smoking for the next generation and helping the country move closer to its goal to be smoke-free by 2025.
The plans include tp gradually increase the legal smoking age, which could extend to a ban on the sale of tobacco products and cigarettes to anyone born after the year 2004, making smoking illegal for that generation.
The committee is also considering a significant reduction in the level of nicotine allowed in all tobacco products, setting a minimum price for tobacco, prohibiting filters and restricting the locations to a minimum where tobacco and cigarettes can be sold.
“We need a new approach,” Associate Health Minister Dr Ayesha Verrall said on Thursday, April 15th, announcing the changes. “About 4,500 New Zealanders die every year from tobacco, and we need to make accelerated progress to be able to reach that goal [of Smokefree 2025]. Business-as-usual without a tobacco control program won’t get us there.”
