New Zealand: Association calls for reduction of points of sale

In New Zealand, the Cancer Society has just launched a petition calling for a “significant reduction” in the number of tobacco product outlets, saying the country will not meet its goal of a tobacco-free generation by 2025 if availability is not reduced. The petition only affects tobacco products, vaping products are not affected.

Cancer Society calls for phase out of nearly all 6,000-8,000 outlets across the country so that there are just 100 left by 2025[1]According to the organization, current laws do not do enough to protect the population from the dangers of tobacco, especially children, because tobacco products are easily accessible, sold alongside other everyday products such as milk or bread.

A study by the University of Otago[2] estimates that about half of New Zealand secondary schools have at least one tobacco outlet within half a kilometre, with more tobacco retailers in low-income communities where smoking rates are highest. Even though tobacco use has declined steadily over the past 40 years, tobacco remains a driver of health inequalities as Māori and Pacific communities have a higher prevalence of smoking than the rest of the population.

Minorities Victims of Industry Targeted Marketing

In New Zealand, the overall daily smoking prevalence in 2019-20 was 11.6%. The daily smoking prevalence among Māori at that time was 28.7% and 18.3% among Pacific peoples.[3]These high rates in these populations are, in particular, the result of sustained and targeted marketing by the tobacco industry aimed at them for decades.[4]A few months ago, Philip Morris, the country's main distributor, selected events and locations coveted by the Maori to promote its new heated tobacco device.[5]. According to Philip Morris NZ's chief executive, the company offered free trials of the product and sold it at half price to Maori because they were facing "financial difficulties". PMI also approached an association that helps vulnerable people in Auckland.[6] to try to promote its products to people in difficulty, suggesting that the tobacco manufacturer was "trying to combat high rates of female smoking" by offering "less harmful alternatives".

Reducing the availability of tobacco products is an effective measure to reduce consumption

Substantially reducing the availability of tobacco products has been identified as an effective measure to reduce smoking prevalence. The ubiquity of tobacco retailers normalises tobacco use and distorts perceptions about the harmfulness of the product. Proximity to tobacco retailers is associated with higher smoking rates and makes it more difficult for smokers to quit.[7]. Although some countries, at the local level, (in San Francisco in 2014, in Hungary in 2013[8]) have implemented policies to restrict places of sale, the (long-term) effect of these measures on the prevalence of smoking, on the health of the population or on the costs of smoking has not yet been assessed to date.

However, a recent study[9] modelled 4 tobacco outlet reduction interventions in New Zealand and concluded that these reductions would reduce smoking prevalence, improve quality of life for residents and reduce health system costs. The study also found that these interventions could significantly reduce health inequalities between Māori and the rest of the population. Reducing the number of tobacco outlets has public support in New Zealand as a strategy to achieve a tobacco-free generation by 2025[10].

Keywords: New Zealand, Tobacco Free Generation, 2025, Maori, New Products

©Tobacco Free Generation

---

^[1] Cancer Society petitions for 'significant reduction' in tobacco retailers, One news, March 31, 2021, consulted the same day [2] Robertson L, Marsh L, Edwards R, Hoek J, van der Deen FS, McGee R. Regulating tobacco retail in New Zealand: what can we learn from overseas? NZ Med J. 2016 Apr 1;129(1432):74-9. PMID: 27356255. [3] What does the 2019/20 NZ Health Survey tell us about progress towards a Smokefree Aotearoa?, Health Central, December 14, 2020, accessed March 31, 2021 [4] Generation Without Tobacco, Smoking and mortality among Aboriginal and Islander adults in Australia, January 27, 2021, accessed March 31, 2021 [5] Guyon Espiner, Big Tobacco targeting Māori with e-cigarettes, RNZ, July 11, 2019, accessed March 31, 2021 [6] Guyon Espiner, Philip Morris tried to target poor through poverty group and Counties Manukau DHB, RNZ, August 27, 2019, accessed March 31, 2021 [7] Reitzel, Lorraine R et al. “The effect of tobacco outlet density and proximity on smoking cessation.” American journal of public health flight. 101.2 (2011): 315-20. doi:10.2105/AJPH.2010.191676 [8] Henriksen L. The retail environment for tobacco: a barometer of progress towards the endgame. Tob Control 2015;24:e1–2. doi:10.1136/tobaccocontrol-2014-051884 [9] Pearson AL, Cleghorn CL, van der Deen FS, et al Tobacco retail outlet restrictions: health and cost impacts from multistate life-table modeling in a national population Tobacco Control 2017;26:579-585. [10] Whyte G, Gendall P, Hoek J Advancing the retail endgame: public perceptions of retail policy interventions Tobacco Control 2014;23:160-166. National Committee Against Smoking |