New Zealand proposes to prohibit youths from ever purchasing cigarettes in their lives, in one of the most vital anti-tobacco measures globally, claiming that earlier initiatives to eliminate smoking were taking a long time.
In 2027, no one under the age of 14 will be allowed to buy cigarettes in the five-million-strong Pacific nation, according to measures presented on Thursday, including limiting the number of outlets authorized to sell tobacco and lowering nicotine levels in all items.
The prohibition will last the rest of the person’s life. This indicates that in 2073, an individual aged 60 will be prohibited from purchasing cigarettes, but a person aged 61 will be allowed to do so.
In a statement, New Zealand Associate Minister of Health Ayesha Verrall remarked, “We like to make sure youths never start smoking. Therefore we’ll make it illegal to sell or offer smoked tobacco products to new cohorts of adolescents.”
“If nothing changes, it will take decades for Mori smoking rates to fall under 5%, and this administration will not abandon its people.” According to government statistics, 11.6 percent of all New Zealanders aged 15 and up smoke, with Indigenous Maori people smoking at a rate of 29 percent.
In the next months, the government will engage with a Maori health working group before enacting laws in parliament in June of next year to pass it by the close of 2022.
Source: CBC News
