In an effort to finally phase out smoking, New Zealand will prohibit the selling of tobacco to the next generation.
According to the BBC, anyone born after 2008 will be unable to purchase cigarettes or tobacco products during their lives due to a rule set to be adopted next year.
“We want to make sure that young people never start smoking,” stated Dr. Ayesha Verall, the Minister of Health.
New Zealand’s health ministry announced the move on Thursday as part of a broad anti-smoking campaign.
Doctors and other health experts in the country have applauded the “world-leading” regulations that will curb tobacco access and limit cigarette nicotine levels.
Prof Janet Hook of the University of Otago said, “It will help people stop or switch to less dangerous products, and it will make it much less likely for young people to become addicted to nicotine.”
New Zealand is committed to meeting a national objective of reducing smoking rates to 5% by 2025, with the goal of eventually eliminating the practice entirely.
Approximately 13% of adults in New Zealand smoke now, compared to 18% roughly a decade earlier. However, among the indigenous Maori population, the percentage is substantially higher – around 31% – and they also have a higher prevalence of disease and death.
According to New Zealand’s health ministry, smoking causes one out of every four cancers and is the biggest cause of preventable death among the country’s five million people. Legislators have been targeting the business for more than a decade.
