Cancer Action Plan

ASH NZ – Action for Smokefree 2025
2 September 2019

ASH NZ, a leading organisation campaigning to eliminate the death and harm caused by tobacco, welcomes the Government’s Cancer Action Plan, released yesterday.

ASH NZ Chair, Emeritus Professor Robert Beaglehole, applauds the Plan, saying, “it is excellent to see the Government committed to getting to the target of a smoke-free 2025.”

The Plan provides 3 ways to get to the target:
1. Pass legislation to ban smoking in vehicles carrying children
2. Implement guidance for stop-smoking services to better support young Māori women to stop smoking
3. Promote vaping to support smokers to switch and introduce legislation to ensure vaping is regulated appropriately

Beaglehole says, “We are delighted to see the government’s commitment to tackling the leading preventable cause of death in New Zealand.”

“The rapid rise of smoke-free nicotine products, especially vaping, is the most disruptive influence on smoking in decades. These products are challenging not only smoked tobacco’s stranglehold on the nicotine market but also the public health response to tobacco harm reduction. Appropriate regulation could ensure vaping is a highly useful harm reduction tool, whilst safeguarding youth.”

Useful information
• Smoking is the number one cause of preventable death in New Zealand with
4,300 to 4,600 deaths per year.

• 13% of New Zealanders, 512,000 people, smoke daily.

• 37% of Maori women smoke daily.

• There is higher smoking prevalence among low-income groups, and Māori and Pacific.

Emeritus Professor Robert Beaglehole
Professor Beaglehole founded ASH in 1982 and now chairs the organisation which actively supports the Smokefree Aotearoa 2025 Goal. He is Professor Emeritus of the University of Auckland.

About ASH NZ
ASH NZ is an independent not-for-profit dedicated to the vision to eliminate the death and harm caused by tobacco. It was formed in 1983.

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