China News Service, December 9th. According to foreign media reports, on the 9th local time, the New Zealand government announced that it plans to gradually increase the age for buying tobacco to effectively ban smoking and eventually phase out smoking.
After the relevant laws and regulations take effect, the younger generation may be banned for life from buying tobacco from legal channels.
Data map: In Auckland, New Zealand, people line up to enter the supermarket to purchase daily necessities.
According to reports, on the 9th local time, New Zealand’s Deputy Minister of Health Ayesha Verrall (Ayesha Verrall) said that under the proposed new legislation, New Zealand will gradually increase the legal age for buying tobacco.
New Zealand currently prohibits the sale of tobacco to people under the age of 18.
Villar said that starting from 2027, the legal age to buy tobacco will increase year by year.
That is, as young people get older, the restrictions on smoking by the law also increase for one year.
She said, “We want to ensure that young people never start smoking, so we make it illegal to sell or supply tobacco products to new groups of young people.”
She added that the government will also legislate to restrict tobacco sales and only allow products with low nicotine content to enter the market to reduce the likelihood of people becoming addicted.
The report pointed out that New Zealand was determined to reduce the national smoking rate to less than 5% by 2025.
As part of this goal, the government will submit the bill to Parliament in 2022.
However, CNN pointed out that the legislation does not include e-cigarettes, which are still very popular among young people in New Zealand.
A November report by the New Zealand Asthma and Respiratory Foundation found that nearly 20% of students smoke e-cigarettes every day, and 57% of them believe that this has an adverse effect on their health.