Ruth Canty and Marita Hefler New Zealand has announced it will repeal the country’s world-leading smokefree laws. Faced with a choice between leading a turning point in the global tobacco epidemic or turning back the clock, New Zealand’s new incoming coalition government chose the latter. The new coalition government is made up of right-wing parties, […]
Category: New Zealand
New Zealand: Ground-breaking action plan may help country achieve its Smokefree 2025 goal
Richard Edwards, Janet Hoek and Andrew Waa On December 9 2021, Associate Health Minister Dr Ayesha Verrall launched the New Zealand (NZ) Government’s action plan to achieve its Smokefree 2025 goal. The Action Plan responded to consultation on a discussion document published in April 2021 that outlined draft proposals. The NZ government committed to a […]
New Zealand Government proposes world-leading action plan to achieve Smokefree 2025 goal
By Richard Edwards and members of the ASPIRE 2025 Research Centre In April 2021 the New Zealand government published a discussion document with a draft action plan for Smokefree 2025. The goal itself is not new; it was first announced by the New Zealand government in 2011, following a recommendation from the Māori Affairs Select […]
World: PMI-funded Foundation for a Smoke-Free World adding insult to injury
Jennifer Fang and Kelley Lee Despite 7 million deaths annually and counting, tobacco control worldwide continues to be seriously underfunded as a public health priority. This funding gap is especially acute in low-income countries and among certain historically disadvantaged populations. It is into this space that the Philip Morris International (PMI) financed Foundation for a […]
How should governments deal with multinational consulting firms that work for the tobacco industry?
George Thomson, Louise Delany Department of Public Health, University of Otago, Wellington, New Zealand george.thomson@otago.ac.nz The New Zealand Ministry of Health is currently using a consulting firm EY (formerly Ernst & Young) to research the impacts of tobacco taxation, despite EY’s work locally and internationally for tobacco companies. This decision may breach the Framework […]
New Zealand to have world’s first smoke-free military by 2020
New Zealand has kicked off World No Tobacco Day by announcing a plan for its defence force to become the world’s first smoke-free military by 2020. Initiatives to achieve the goal include banning the sale of cigarettes on camps and bases and making NZ defence force housing smokefree. It will also evolve camps and bases into smokefree […]
Both Sides of the Argument? JTI-MacDonald’s Anti-Plain Packaging Spin in Canada
Julia Smith Faculty of Health Sciences, Simon Fraser University JTI-MacDonald recently launched a multimedia campaign, Both Sides of the Argument, to sway public opinion against proposed plain packaging legislation in Canada. The campaign includes advertisements on popular radio stations, a website, posters in restaurant and bar bathrooms, advertisements in national newspapers and sponsored posts […]
New Zealand: no more ‘silent salesman’ – cigarette plain packaging passed
On 8 September, New Zealand joined a growing international move to outlaw the tobacco industry’s ‘silent salesman’ when it became the latest country to introduce cigarette plain packaging. The legislation – the Smoke-Free Environments (Tobacco Standardised Packaging) Amendment Bill was passed on its third and final reading in the New Zealand parliament with 108 votes […]
New Zealand study: Dissuasive cigarette sticks – the next step in standardised (‘plain’) packaging?
A study published by Tobacco Control in December 2015 by a team of New Zealand and Australian researchers explored extending the concept of plain packaging one step further – to the cigarette stick itself. New Zealand is moving towards introducing plain packaging; incorporating dissuasive cigarette sticks would put it at the forefront of innovative tobacco […]
New Zealand: Dirty Politics raises conflict of interest concerns
Nathan Cowie, MPH. Cowie Research and Communications Disclosure: The author has previously undertaken paid employment for Centre for Tobacco Control Research, University of Auckland, and Action on Smoking and Health New Zealand. Investigative journalist Nicky Hager released a book in August 2014 on the seamier side of New Zealand politics. Dirty Politics: How attack politics […]