Ten years down the track

Ten years down the track

New Zealand has led the way with tobacco control measures, starting ten years ago with the Smokefree Environments Act 2003 – in its time a world leading piece of legislation.

The Act placed restrictions on smoking in indoor workplaces and partial restrictions on licensed premises, including restaurants and meal-serving areas of pubs, and other venues and sought to reduce the exposure of non-smokers to second-hand smoke. The Act also put in place measures to regulate marketing, advertising and promoting tobacco products and control the harmful constituents in tobacco smoke and tobacco products. It established the Health Sponsorship Council to replace tobacco sponsorship.

“At the time we were very proud of our forward thinking and the commitment the country was making to create a healthier environment,” said Dr Jan Pearson, Chair of the National Smokefree Working Group and National Health Promotion Manager for the Cancer Society.

“There were dire predictions from many quarters presenting strong opposition to the proposed legislation – but ten years on none of the predictions have come to pass and in fact there are some very pleasing results. There is reduced exposure to second-hand smoke, a decline in the number of people smoking, a fall in youth smoking rate and an increase in the number of smoke free homes in New Zealand. All in all the outcomes are very promising for a Smokefree New Zealand by 2025.”

On Wednesday 10 December the Hon Peseta Sam Lotu-Iiga will host a reception to celebrate the ten year milestone. In attendance will be many of the people involved with the original advocacy programme. The Ministry of Health will be launching Ten Years after Taking the Smoke Outside: The Impacts of the Smokefree Environments Amendment Act 2003. The research was prepared for the Ministry of Health by the New Zealand Tobacco Control Research Turanga: A programme of innovative research to halve smoking prevalence in Aotearoa/New Zealand within a decade.

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