New Zealand wants to progressively raise the minimum age to acquire tobacco in a new plan to cut with this addiction that will imply that young people today can never buy cigarettes legally, as explained by the government.
Currently, New Zealand prohibits the sale of tobacco under 18 years of age. With the new law, as of 2027 the prohibition will rise a year every year, thus making the generation that at that time reach 18 can never buy tobacco legally, said the Minister of Health, Ayesha Verrall.
"We want to make sure that people never start smoking (...) As they grow, they and future generations will not be able to legally acquire tobacco, because the truth is that there is no safe age to start smoking", argument.
The Minister said that the Government will also create legislation to restrict where tobacco sells and will only allow products with low nicotine in the market to thus reduce the chances that people become addicted.
According to Verrall, this plan keeps New Zealand as an example of the fight against tobacco, with actions to prohibit the sponsorship of cigarette brands in sports in 1990 or prohibit smoking in bars in 2004. "It is a historical day for the health of Our people, "he said, for depsence adding that" smoking is still the main cause of predictable death in New Zealand and causes one out of four cancers. "
The Minister said that the harmful effects of tobacco raised especially in Maori and Pacific communities, where the average smoking duplicates 13.5% of the rest of the population. The government expects to reduce this percentage to 5% by 2025 which, in the opinion of it, would save the public system 3.6 million dollars.
Date Of Update: 10 December 2021, 16:23
