|
10 April
2006 For immediate release
|
|
PO
Box 203007
Dr Murray Laugesen QSO
Chair ph 0274 884 375 or +64 9 232 0332
Auckland NZ 1852
Trish Fraser MPH
Executive Trustee
fax +64 9 232 0336
Professor Sir John Scott, Dr Tom Marshall OBE, Trustees
|
A new deal for smokers — plans to phase-out cigarette sales
Cigarette
smoking kills one in three Maori and one in six of all of us, and has
killed 200,000 New Zealanders since 1950.
SmokeLess, a
new charitable Trust, is promoting an overhaul of current smoking control
policies, to ultimately end cigarette sales in New Zealand by 2016.
SmokeLess is promoting a new deal for smokers. As well as ending cigarette sales, the
Trust aims to obtain legislation to steadily remove nicotine in
cigarettes to make quitting easier and to ensure smokers can access safe,
effective and smokeless nicotine alternatives.
“Now that pubs are smokefree, it is time to do more for smokers, and
provide them with safer ways to self-dose with nicotine” says SmokeLess New Zealand chair Dr Murray Laugesen.
“It is the smoke that kills, not nicotine. The new policies we
advocate will save thousands of lives and billions of dollars
annually”.
According to a recent TV3 poll, 52% of the
public already support an end to cigarette sales, more than the 28% who
supported smokefree bars in 2000.
SmokeLess also
welcomes the leadership of the Maori Party who are pushing for a sales
ban on cigarettes. “Going on
our experience with the smokefree bars bill, if
a private member’s bill reaches the Select Committee, all
stakeholders have their say, and a strong bill will emerge. Black markets will not flourish if
smokers can legally buy an affordable nicotine fix,” Dr Laugesen
says.
SmokeLess is concerned to
provide a better deal for those addicted to nicotine, those who are
unable or unwilling to quit smoking or who feel existing options do not
meet their needs. SmokeLess will support:
§
Research and market access for more effective smokeless nicotine
products as alternatives to cigarettes (in addition to patch and gum).
§
Reduction in the nicotine content of cigarettes to make it easier
for smokers to quit smoking.
§
Increased tax rates for cigarettes and cigarette tobacco, lower
rates for smokeless tobacco, zero for pure nicotine, in line with the
death risks of each product type.
§
Finally, a ban on cigarette sales to cement the gains made, once
the above policies have lowered smoking prevalence sufficiently. A ban on
cigarette sales may take up to ten years. Smoking itself could remain
legal, as would growing tobacco for personal
use.
SmokeLess supports
what is already being done by government and other health groups but
wants to see a faster reduction
in the number of adults smoking, and the amount of quit-advertising
doubled.
Trustees of SmokeLess
include a past president of the NZ Medical Association (Dr Tom Marshall),
a former Action on Smoking and Health (ASH) director (Trish Fraser).and
medical school professor emeritus Sir John Scott.
SmokeLess’
membership, finances and policy positions are independent of the
cigarette or smokeless tobacco industry. Go to www.smokeless.org.nz for more
detailed information about SmokeLess, its
policies and objectives.
For more information, please contact Dr Murray
Laugesen Ph 0274 884 375 or
09) 232 0332 chair@smokeless.org.nz
|