Gearing up for World Smokefree Day on May 31, Southern DHB health promotion advisers Debby Newton, Megan Barrett and Catherine Thomas said the Government’s Smokefree 2025 Action Plan proposal had energised the sector.
"We are all excited about the proposal, it is very bold, and could bring this country back to being a world leader in the smoke-free space," Ms Newton, acting chair of Smokefree Otago, said.
The theme of World Smokefree Day 2021 is "Commit to Quit" and health promotion adviser Megan Barrett said it was vitally important that people are encouraged to "give it a go".
"Quitting smoking is a hard journey, which deserves support from friends and whanau, even if you have tried many times," Ms Barrett said.
On average, it took a smoker 20 serious attempts to quit smoking, Ms Newton said.
"Our message is, ‘Never stop trying to quit’."
The Ministry of Health proposals released last month would strengthen tobacco controls, make smoking tobacco products less available, less appealing, less addictive, less affordable, and enhance existing initiatives, Ms Newton said.
"To accelerate the progress required to reach the Smokefree 2025 goal, we are committed to working with our communities to implement this bold plan when finalised," she said.
"It is important to remember that these proposals are not trying to punish people — tobacco is a product that, when used as intended, kills two-thirds of its users."
Smoke-free advocates have also welcomed the proposal to significantly reduce the number of shops able to sell tobacco.
Statistics show that on average, six shops are selling tobacco within a 10-minute walk of any given New Zealand secondary school, and there are four times more tobacco retailers in low-income communities.
To highlight World Smokefree Day, and to add an environmental focus, the smoke-free advocates have linked with the Our Seas Our Future group to organise a public cigarette butt clean-up at The Esplanade and St Clair playground, from 10.30am on Sunday, May 30.
Ms Thomas said the project would also help to highlight one of the proposals in the Smokefree 2025 Action Plan — to prohibit the use of filters on cigarettes.
"The removal of filters takes away the illusion that they somehow make cigarettes less harmful, while also removing this source of contamination from the environment," she said.
A Keep NZ Beautiful national litter survey in 2019 estimated there were more than 10billion cigarette butts polluting our ecosystems.
Balaclava School pupils have also been involved in preparations for World Smokefree Day, creating posters on the theme "what would a smoke-free ocean look like?".
About 50 posters will be included in a 3m by 1m banner, which may be unveiled during the clean-up event.
Submissions on the Smokefree Aotearoa 2025 Action Plan proposal are open until World Smokefree Day, May 31.
Ms Newton said, with the Action Plan proposal and smoke-free cars legislation to take effect in November, its was "all go in the smoke-free space".
"It is about healthy whanau — so parents and grandparents get to see their children grow up."
Smoking continued to be the largest cause of preventable deaths and cancer in New Zealand, and was estimated to kill 13 New Zealanders a day.
