Wellington, New Zealand:
New Zealand’s incoming Conservative government will jettison leading measures to eradicate smoking, new Prime Minister Christopher Luxon confirmed on Monday, in a move described by health campaigners as a “huge win for the tobacco industry”.
The so-called ‘generational smoking ban’, unveiled under former Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, aimed to ban the sale of cigarettes to anyone born after 2008.
Praised by public health experts and anti-smoking advocates, a series of almost identical measures were recently announced in Britain.
But after he was sworn in on Monday, Luxon confirmed New Zealand would scrap the laws before they come into effect, citing fears of a thriving black market.
Luxon admitted that tax revenue from the continued sale of cigarettes would also provide welcome revenue for the government, but insisted that this was “not the motivation to do this”.
Anti-smoking group Health Coalition Aotearoa – the Maori name for New Zealand – said the policy’s withdrawal was an insult to the country.
“This is a major loss for public health and a huge win for the tobacco industry, whose profits will soar at the expense of Kiwi lives,” the group said in a statement.
Luxon said the cigarette ban would “create an opportunity for the emergence of a black market, which would be largely untaxed.”
The legislation, which would come into effect later this year, was intended to reduce the number of people using tobacco products almost immediately.
Although the number of adults smoking in New Zealand is already relatively low at just eight percent, the previous government envisioned a future where the country would be completely smoke-free.
In addition to the steadily rising age limit, the new law would have reduced the number of retailers that can sell tobacco products to a maximum of just 600 nationwide, a huge drop from the current number of 6,000.
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