Report calls for life-saving reforms to help smokers quit

JOINT MEDIA RELEASE

TRANS-TASMAN REPORT CALLS FOR LIFE-SAVING REFORMS TO HELP SMOKERS QUIT

28 NOVEMBER 2016
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

The New Zealand Taxpayers' Union, Australian Taxpayers’ Alliance and MyChoice Australia have jointly launched a report calling for the governments on both sides of the Tasman to legalise, and lightly regulate new technologies to help smokers quit.

The report, E-cigarettes: Reducing the Harm of Smoking, is available to view and download from http://taxpayers.org.nz/e-cigs_report.

“E-cigarettes provide a healthier alternative to traditional cigarettes and mean smokers are not forced to be the Government’s cash cows” said Jordan Williams, Executive Director of the Taxpayers’ Union. “While the New Zealand Government is well ahead of Australia in terms of moves to legalise the technology, suggestions that it should be taxed like traditional cigarettes would undermine the very benefits the new technologies offer."

“These products offer the only real pathway to the Government’s aspiration of a Smokefree New Zealand by 2025. If governments tax next-generation smoking technologies like they do traditional cigarettes, they will be effectively choosing the tax revenue over saving lives."

Lara Jeffery, Director of MyChoice Australia, said “The evidence is overwhelming: vaping technologies will save millions of lives.”

“Millions of smokers worldwide have quit smoking because of this technology, and it is now the most popular way for smokers to quit in countries such as the United Kingdom. Public health experts worldwide have praised it as being 'at least 95 percent' safer than smoking. It is time for our regulations to catch up to the times and encourage this life saving technology” concluded Ms Jeffery.

ENDS

© Scoop Media