Tobacco.org

PM not ruling out increase in tax on tobacco products 

Cigarette prices to rise again  

Pub wins 5 year smoking battle 

"An absolute waste of time and money" is how a Kaikohe publican is describing a five-year legal stoush over claims he allowed smoking in his pub.

Kaikohe Hotel owner Neal Summers made history in 2008 when he was the first Northlander to be prosecuted under the then four-year-old Smokefree Environments Act banning smoking in enclosed public areas. He was also hit with a record fine, $5800 plus $970 in court costs and fees.

However, two hearings, an appeal and many court appearances later, the case against him has been dropped.

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$700K spend on smokes deters youth  

A woman whose grandparents spent an estimated $700,000 on cigarettes is teaching Bay of Plenty youth about the dangers of alcohol and drugs this week.

Kirsty Steel's grandparents chain-smoked two packets a day for 40 years, her grandmother dying as a result of her substance abuse when Kirsty's dad was only 18-years-old.

Kirsty Steel has seen first-hand the effect of drugs and alcohol on families.

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Government Budget Will Target Students And Smokers 

• Anger over candy cigarettes  

The sale of look-a-like lolly cigarettes, whose consumption by children is linked to becoming a smoker, has been condemned by Associate Health Minister Tariana Turia.

Lucky Lights bubblegum, Victory candy and other American brands of mock cigarettes are on sale in New Zealand, alongside the local Spaceman candy sticks - all quite legally.

The American brands are in packets that bear similarities to real cigarette packets and the bubblegum stick's wrapping makes it look like a cigarette with a filter.

The candy sticks all look a bit like a hand-rolled cigarette. The products cost around $1.70 to $1.80.

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• Tapu Misa: Tobacco bullies should back off  

In Mill's view, the only freedom worthy of the name "is that of pursuing our own good in our own way ... Each is the guardian of his own health, whether bodily, or mental or spiritual".

Just how helpful this thinking has been to the corporate world was illustrated by the response of Big Tobacco and its friends to the news that the Government has agreed in principle to follow Australia's lead and ban branded cigarette packs as part of its commitment to a smokefree New Zealand by 2025 (meaning less than 5 per cent of the population smoking). . . .

Turia and the Maori Party deserve praise for persuading a right-of-centre government to agree to the goal of a smokefree New Zealand, especially given the fierce resistance to anti-smoking legislation introduced by the Labour Government in 1990 and 2003.

The industry has fought every attempt to restrict its activities. Since 1990, though, the smoking rate has come down from 28 per cent to just under 20 per cent, and a recent survey of Year 10 students shows a growing number aren't taking up smoking.

There's still a long way to go, especially among the Maori and Pacific communities. Health researchers predict plain packaging will help further reduce the number of young people who take up smoking. Given most smokers get hooked before they turn 15, it seems at least worth a try.

This isn't about protecting communities from themselves but from those who prey on them. How far should public policy go? As far as it needs to. What Turia and public health experts know is that, as with other social hazards (gambling, loan sharks, and the proliferation of cut-price alcohol outlets in low-income communities) this has never been a fair fight.

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Editorial: Smokers don't give a fag about plain packaging 

• Support for a tobacco endgame and increased regulation of the tobacco industry among New Zealand smokers: results from a National Survey  

Conclusions

The findings suggest that most smokers will support stronger government action to control the tobacco industry and that many support radical ‘endgame’ approaches. Greater support among Māori, more deprived and possibly Pacific smokers, is an important finding, which could inform the design and implementation of new policies given the very high smoking prevalence among these groups and hence high priority for targeted tobacco control interventions. Perceived difficulties in gaining public support should not impede the introduction of rigorous tobacco control measures needed to achieve a tobacco-free New Zealand.

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• Tobacco companies' warnings criticised 

Cigarette companies are emphasising their claim that tighter controls are leading to an expanding New Zealand black market in tobacco after the Government's moves on plain packaging.

But tobacco control researchers and campaigners have dismissed the claims as a diversionary "nonsense" tactic by the companies to discredit an important policy which studies have shown is likely to cut smoking.

Imperial Tobacco said this week "an alarming number of Kiwis are aware of illicit or illegal tobacco products, according to new research".

British American Tobacco said last week that the illicit trade in tobacco would probably increase with plain packaging.

Action on Smoking and Health director Ben Youdan said the group commissioned an analysis of illicit tobacco after the industry raised the issue at the Maori affairs select committee tobacco inquiry in 2010.

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Branding ban likely for tobacco products  

Tobacco firms could take on Government over new law  

Labour backs plain tobacco packaging 

Research and Markets: NRT Smoking Cessation Aids in New Zealand  

• Support for a tobacco endgame and increased regulation of the tobacco industry among New Zealand smokers: results from a National Survey  

Conclusions

The findings suggest that most smokers will support stronger government action to control the tobacco industry and that many support radical ‘endgame’ approaches. Greater support among Māori, more deprived and possibly Pacific smokers, is an important finding, which could inform the design and implementation of new policies given the very high smoking prevalence among these groups and hence high priority for targeted tobacco control interventions. Perceived difficulties in gaining public support should not impede the introduction of rigorous tobacco control measures needed to achieve a tobacco-free New Zealand.

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