New Zealand is banning tobacco sales. Health Minister Dr Ayesha Verall said that this is a historic step towards a smoke free future for the country.
Anyone born after 2008 will not be able to buy cigarettes or tobacco products in their lifetime, under a law expected to be enacted next year.
“We will implement bold measures, including banning the sale of cigarettes to future generations, as part of our #SmokeFree2025 Action Plan,” Verall says in a statement.
“For all the patients I have cared for who have been killed or maimed by tobacco — this one’s for you,” she adds.
New Zealand is taking a historic step towards our smokefree future.
We will implement bold measures, including banning the sale of cigarettes to future generations, as part of our #Smokefree2025 Action Plan. https://t.co/rx2tkrWJK9
— Ayesha Verrall (@drayeshaverrall) December 8, 2021
The plan is to prevent the youth from smoking at all.
The prohibition means that anyone who’s currently aged 14-years-old and under will never be able to legally buy tobacco in the country.
At the moment, smoking is still the leading cause of preventable death in New Zealand and causes one in four cancers and results in 4 000 to 5 000 smoking-related premature deaths every year.
The move makes New Zealand the first country in the world to go entirely smoke-free.
Reactions to the plan have been mixed. While some welcome it as a step towards a healthier future and see it as a way of saving money, others fear that it will only result in the sale of black market tobacco.
New Zealand is determined to reduce its national smoking rate to 5% by 2025, with the aim of eventually eliminating it altogether, reports BBC News.
What has been labelled as a “crackdown” has also seen the introduction of major tobacco controls on current cigarette sales.
Where smokes can be purchased has also been restricted, while the government has called on the complete removal of these products from supermarkets and corner stores.
The number of shops authorised to sell cigarettes will be drastically reduced from 8 000 to under 500.
According to Smoke Free World, approximately 7 million people ages 15 and older currently smoke. Smokers in South Africa smoke around 27 billion cigarettes per year or an average of 3 771 cigarettes per smoker annually. Illegal tobacco products account for an estimated 25 percent of the South African market.
“We have a very strong anti-tobacco campaign in this country, but moving people to quitting is hindered by people’s perceptions about what smoking does.” says Professor Solomon Rataemane from Sefako Makgatho Health Sciences University in Pretoria.
The effects of smoking are serious. Research confirms the detrimental effects of tobacco, even in the first year of life, reports IOL. Smoking prevalence remains the highest in the Western Cape, where 42% of men and one in four women still smoke.
“Smoking increases your risk for heart attacks and stroke, lung cancer, pneumonia and emphysema – and also doubles your risk of tuberculosis,” said Professor Richard van Zyl-Smit of the University of Cape Town’s Lung Institute.
According to British American Tobacco, tobacco sales make a critical contribution to the South African economy. The company adds that it paid an excess of R13.6 billion in tax revenue in 2019 alone. They also claim to employ more than 1 100 people directly in the BAT South Africa business, and bought goods and services worth R6 billion from local suppliers.
The question thus becomes one of health versus economy. Would South Africa survive a tobacco ban as in New Zealand? Or should we consider the health of our citizens, taking the pressure off healthcare workers, particularly during the COVID-19 pandemic?
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BATSA calls for cigarettes to retail at minimum of R28 to fight illicit tobacco trade
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