Nationwide Smoking Ban

New Zealand is aiming to eradicate smoking across the country by 2025. In an article published in the international Tobacco Control journal, health researchers at the University of Otago have said the government needs to set a date to end commercial sale of tobacco in order to achieve that goal. “Research indicates that incremental efforts are not enough to reduce smoking to near zero by 2025. This is the case in New Zealand, where smoking has declined very slowly in the last two decades, and over 20 per cent of the adult population still smokes,” lead author George Thomson said. “Any preventable deaths, let alone the current 5000 a year, should be stopped. Definite endgame plans are needed now to ensure that,” Thomson said.