In New Zealand, the Minister of Health publicly attacks a civil servant

In New Zealand, the Minister of Health in charge of tobacco control, Casey Castello, has caused a new outcry, accusing a member of her ministry of undermining the country's efforts in its fight against smoking. According to New Zealand media, the official had simply issued an unfavourable opinion on a reduction in the tax on heated tobacco.

Over the past year, the fight against smoking in New Zealand has taken a unique turn. While the country had committed to banning the sale of tobacco products to anyone born in 2009 or later, the arrival of a new government led by a conservative majority has led to theabandonment of the measure, provoking outrage among public health professionals. Earlier in the year, the Minister of Health in charge of the fight against smoking had also provoked the anger of anti-smoking NGOs, by deciding to drastically reduce the tax on heated tobacco, constituting a gift of 200 million New Zealand dollars to the manufacturer Philip Morris alone (around 110 million euros). The Minister had notably invoked the role of this device in reducing risks and helping to quit.

Documents deemed “obsolete” and “bad” for regulating heated tobacco

To justify her decision, Casey Castello shared five documents that demonstrated that heated tobacco could be a relevant alternative to traditional smoking. In an internal email, the Department of Health’s chief epidemiology adviser, Fiona Callaghan, considered the evidence provided by Casey Castello to be “selective,” “outdated,” and some of it even “bad.” The adviser also pointed out that some of the evidence presented came from Philip Morris International, and that it fostered confusion between different tobacco and nicotine products that are very different in nature: e-cigarettes, heated tobacco, and nicotine pouches. More explicitly, Fiona Callaghan said in an internal email that “there is no evidence that snus or heated tobacco products are effective for quitting smoking.”

The probity of a civil servant questioned by the minister

The Health Minister responsible for tobacco control publicly responded to these comments, saying that "once again, […] officials are undermining the government's harm reduction approach to reducing smoking prevalence", stressing the need to "maintain the standards of integrity and political neutrality of the public sector". For her part, Kerry Davies, national secretary of the Public Service Association, considered that a public attack on a public servant, mandated to provide "free and frank" advice, was unacceptable behaviour in New Zealand's democratic system. Furthermore, as Chris Hipkins, leader of the Labour Party, pointed out, there is no independent evidence to demonstrate that heated tobacco would help users wean themselves from conventional tobacco, or reduce their health risks.

The opacity of relations between the minister and the tobacco industry

In August 2024, New Zealand media learned through a leak that Casey Costello had sent the Ministry of Health a document arguing for a reduction in tobacco taxes. This document was directly opposed to the establishment of a tobacco-free generation, associated according to the minister with a measure of "nanny state", considering nicotine "as dangerous as caffeine". While Casey Costello claimed not to know the author of the note that she herself shared, the minister accused a member of the Ministry of Health of being behind this revelation, also the sister-in-law of the Labor Party leader for health, Ayesha Verrall. However, the many twists and turns of the affair raise questions about the methods used by the minister to make her decision, relying on an obsolete body of science to justify a tax reduction of more than 100 million euros, paid by the New Zealand taxpayer and for the benefit of a tobacco manufacturer.

©Tobacco Free Generation

FT

National Committee Against Smoking |