A bold step that no one in the world has taken yet: This country wants to ban tobacco completely – Topky.sk

According to AFP, the announced rule means that some young people will never be able to buy cigarettes legally in this Pacific island country.

New Zealand currently bans the sale of tobacco products to people under the age of 18 – a new rule proposes that this limit be increased by one year each year from 2027.

We want people not to start smoking

“We want to ensure that people never start smoking … as they get older, neither they nor future generations will ever be able to buy tobacco legally, because the truth is that there is no age when smoking is safe.” she approached.

The health sector also wants to limit the outlets for tobacco products, as well as the maximum amount of nicotine allowed in products, in order to reduce the likelihood that people will become addicted to them.

The New Zealand government is a pioneer in reducing tobacco companies, Verrall said. It banned the promotion of cigarettes in sport as early as 1990 and smoking in bars in 2004.

Smoking is still the leading cause of death

According to current data, 13.5 percent of New Zealanders smoke, but there are about twice as many smokers in the Maori and Native American communities.

The Wellington government plans to reduce smoking rates to five percent by 2025, which would save the health care system an estimated 5.5 billion New Zealand dollars (3.3 billion euros).

“Smoking is still the leading cause of preventable death in New Zealand and is responsible for one in four cancers,” Verrall emphasized.

According to the New Zealand subsidiary of the multinational tobacco corporation British American Tobacco, the announced changes are “untested, unproven and without any scientific evidence of their effectiveness”.

“The combined effects (measures) are in fact a gradual prohibition that will simply push sales (tobacco products) to the black market,” the corporation said in a statement.