New Zealand may cut nicotine in tobacco, ban filters

Nicotine levels in tobacco products could be drastically reduced in New Zealand, just as filters could soon be banned. The move is being encouraged by New Zealand Health Minister Ayesha Verrall.

The New Zealand Minister has just published her Action Plan for a Tobacco-Free Generation, scheduled for 2025.[1]. Launched in 2010 in the country, the project to achieve fewer than 5% smokers by 2025 has led to a significant improvement in the smoking and health situation: only 12% of New Zealanders are now daily smokers. However, as the Ministry of Health document highlights, this progress hides significant social and ethnic disparities. In particular, in her editorial, the Minister insists on the need to intensify public health policies among the Maori, who are more confronted with the tobacco epidemic.

Reduce nicotine levels to “minimal levels”

Beyond reducing inequalities between communities in terms of tobacco and health, the Action Plan sets itself the objectives of encouraging smokers to stop their consumption, and dissuading young people from starting to smoke. To do this, the Minister of Health proposes in particular to make tobacco products less accessible, less attractive and addictive, and less financially affordable. In particular, the Action Plan proposes to reduce nicotine to "minimal levels", to reduce the mechanisms of dependence, in the youngest as well as in daily smokers, who could be led to gradually reduce their tobacco consumption, and to make their attempts to quit easier.

Ban filters to protect public health and the environment in New Zealand

The Action Plan also suggests banning filters in tobacco products, recalling that their use is not accompanied by any reduction in the dangerousness of cigarettes, and that such a measure could even reduce the prevalence of smoking. Indeed, to the extent that these filters are designed by the tobacco industry to make tobacco smoke more pleasant, less irritating, and to alter the smoker's perception of the real risks of their consumption, their ban appears to be a public health measure. The health argument is not, however, the only one used by the Minister, since the ban is also motivated by environmental considerations. Thus, the Action Plan identifies cigarette butts as the "most pervasive source of global pollution", noting that 78% of the waste collected in New Zealand is cigarette butts.

Finally, a series of other measures are proposed in the Action Plan, such as the establishment of a minimum price for tobacco products, the banning of any innovation that would increase the attractiveness and addictiveness of tobacco, or the reduction in the number of points of sale in New Zealand with a view to reducing the accessibility of tobacco products and denormalising their consumption.

Tags: New Zealand, Nicotine, Filters

FT

[1] Ministry of Health, New Zealand Government, Proposals for a Smokefree Aotearoa 2025 Action Plan, 2021, (accessed 10/18/2021)