Smoking, one of the dangerous habits of mankind, is poisoning the humans bit by bit, yet no preventive actions have been taken so far.Not only the men but also the women are becoming the chain- smokers which is hampering the very health of us. Not to mention the passive smokers, who are getting sick in spite of not being involved in smoking. Well, the good news is, New Zealand has taken the very first step to ban smoking.
New Zealand’s new government will scrap the country’s world-leading law to ban smoking for future generations to help pay for tax cuts – a move that public health officials believe will cost thousands of lives and be “catastrophic” for Māori communities. In 2022, New Zealand passed a new legislationthat brought into play a smoking age to stop those from smoking who took birth after January 2009, so that they could not be able to legally buy cigarettes. The law was designed to prevent thousands of smoking-related deaths and save the health.
The new finance minister, Nicola Willis, said the measures will be axed before March 2024, with the revenue from cigarette sales going towards the coalition’s tax cuts. Therefore the nation must find ways to fund its tax plan.
The Prime Minister Christopher Luxon said the reversal would prevent a hidden tobacco market cropping up and stop shops from being targeted for crime.
Professor Richard Edwards, a tobacco control researcher and public health expert at the University of Otago, said, “We are appalled and disgusted… this is an incredibly retrograde step on world-leading, absolutely excellent health measures. Most health groups in New Zealand are appalled by what the government’s done and are calling on them to backtrack.”
Emeritus Prof Robert Beaglehole, chair of New Zealand’s Action for Smokefree 2025 committee said, “The suggestion that tax cuts would be paid by people who continue to smoke is absolutely shocking.”