The Government’s push to pass significant pieces of legislation under urgency risks undermining its Smokefree 2025 goal says an expert in tobacco control.

“There is a huge risk that if the Government rushes through the Smokefree Environments and Regulated Products (Smoked Tobacco) Amendment Bill under Parliamentary Urgency, it will undermine progress towards a Smokefree Aotearoa says Dr Marewa Glover, director of research centre the Centre of Research Excellence: Indigenous Sovereignty and Smoking.

“It’s alarming that this Bill will continue efforts that mislead people into believing that nicotine is the harmful constituent of tobacco smoke,” says Dr Glover.

“Capping the nicotine in all cigarettes, and potentially all combustible tobacco products including cigars and pipe or roll-you-own tobacco to the sub- functional level (<0.05mg/cigarette yield) would be a novel intervention globally with no jurisdiction in the world trialling this.”

“What we have is a Bill that is essentially a vague outline of a work programme for Ministry of Health officials giving them power to decide critical changes, such as: what constituents or product features will be allowed or not, and at what level; or how many and what type of retail outlets will be allowed to keep selling cigarettes and for how long. It is ahead of the science,” said Dr Glover.

Dr Glover says that “Most of the power to decide on the severity of the changes is being handed over to the Director General Ministry of Health. Related documents, such as the regulatory impact statement woefully understate the range of potential negative consequences, such as violent black market activity, and the potential effect size of those consequences.”

“This is undemocratic and a radical shift from how Smokefree Environments Acts were written in the past and is manipulative and underhanded.

Parliament needs to give the Bill the appropriate time to consider its ramifications, not simply be rushed through so MPs can enjoy a long holiday over Christmas,” Dr Glover said.

Background Notes for Editors:

1. Dr Glover is one of New Zealand’s leading tobacco control researchers. She has worked on reducing smoking-related harm for 30 years. She is recognized internationally for her advocacy on tobacco harm reduction; and locally was a Finalist in the New Zealander of the Year Supreme Award in 2019 recognising her contribution to reducing smoking in NZ. Dr Glover has chaired numerous committees and organizations including End Smoking NZ, an independent NGO that lobbied for a harm reduction approach even before electronic cigarettes were introduced. Dr Glover is the most prominent public commentator on vaping in NZ. She is regularly called by the media and has appeared on NZ’s 60 Minutes in addition to participating in live online and conference debates about vaping. In 2018 Dr Glover established the Centre of Research Excellence: Indigenous Sovereignty & Smoking.
2. Centre of Research Excellence: Indigenous Sovereignty and Smoking is an international programme of research aimed at reducing tobacco related harms among Indigenous peoples globally. www.coreiss.com
3. The Centre of Research Excellence: Indigenous Sovereignty and Smoking (the Centre) was established in June 2018. The funding for the Centre’s program of work was obtained following submission of a researcher-initiated application for a funding grant from the Foundation for a Smoke-Free World, Inc. (“FSFW”), a US non-profit 501(c)(3) private foundation. The work of the Centre, under the terms of the grant agreement with FSFW, is editorially independent of FSFW. The contents, selection and presentation of facts, as well as any opinions expressed herein, are the sole responsibility of the author and under no circumstances should they be regarded as reflecting the positions of FSFW. A full conflict of interest disclosure statement is available online at https://coreiss.com/disclaimer
4. A full copy of Dr Glover’s Submission is here https://www.parliament.nz/resource/en-NZ/53SCHE_EVI_125245_HE26185/872ef24317bd1429ff0bde73f05020dcc64de9c7

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