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Potential new regulatory options for e-cigarettes/ANDS in NZ

Monday, May 25th, 2015 | Kate Sloane | 24 Comments

By a group of nine academic tobacco/nicotine researchers*

Smoking e-cigE-cigarette usage is growing in NZ and around the world but the scientific evidence-base regarding the benefits and risks of these types of products remains uncertain. The health-based policy experience is also minimal. In this blog post we outline some of the possible regulatory options around e-cigarettes (alternative nicotine delivery systems – ANDS) that the NZ Government could explore and that further NZ based research could help clarify.

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The Smokefree 2025 goal is in danger of receding – will the Ministry of Health’s ‘realignment’ get it back on track?

Monday, May 18th, 2015 | Kate Sloane | No Comments

Professors Richard Edwards, Chris Cunningham, and Janet Hoek; Associate Professors George Thomson and Nick Wilson

Smokefree2025The Ministry of Health proposes realigning tobacco control services to progress New Zealand’s Smokefree 2025 goal. However, will a ‘realignment’ of existing services ensure the goal is realised? In this blog, based on a recently published letter in the New Zealand Medical Journal (1) we suggest it may help. However, we argue more fundamental change is required and outline how the Government could do more and the priority actions that could catalyse achievement of this world-leading goal.

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Highlights of the World Conference on Tobacco or Health

Friday, April 17th, 2015 | Kate Sloane | 1 Comment

Professor Richard Edwards, Professor Robert Beaglehole and Stephanie Erick

Tariana TuriaThe 16th World Conference on Tobacco or Health (WCToH) has just been held in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. In this blog post we describe some of the main themes and some thoughts about how these might relate to Smokefree 2025 in New Zealand. In summary, New Zealand can still learn a lot from other countries as we move to the adoption of a full range of state-of-the-art tobacco control policies.

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Possible Strategic Approaches to Achieve the NZ Government’s Smokefree 2025 Goal

Thursday, November 20th, 2014 | Kate Sloane | 3 Comments

Associate Professor Nick Wilson, Professor Richard Edwards, Associate Professor George Thomson, Frederieke S van der Deen, Dr Cristina Cleghorn, Professor Tony Blakely

Smokefree 2025Previously published NZ-based modelling work has explored business-as-usual trends in smoking prevalence, and the potential roles of interventions such as higher regular tobacco tax increases in achieving the NZ Government’s Smokefree Nation 2025 Goal. As best we can model, 10% per annum increases in tobacco tax alone will not be able to achieve the 2025 Goal. In this blog post we outline our favoured package to achieve the 2025 Goal which is ongoing increases in tobacco taxes, intensification of existing evidence-based tobacco control activities and implementation of a major new ‘endgame’ strategy (such as denicotinisation). This package, especially a new endgame strategy, faces political and implementation hurdles that need research, policy analysis and advocacy to overcome.

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Will regular tobacco tax increases get NZ to the tobacco endgame?

Wednesday, September 3rd, 2014 | Kate Sloane | 1 Comment

Associate Professor Nick Wilson, Dr Linda Cobiac, Professor Tony Blakely

Image from a World Health Organization poster

Image from a World Health Organization poster

In a modelling study we just published in the international journal Tobacco Control, we examined the potential role of increasing tobacco tax for achieving an end to the tobacco epidemic in NZ. The bottom line is that tax rises could play an important role but other strategies will almost certainly be required if the Government’s smokefree goal is to be achieved by 2025. In this blog we discuss some of the modelling results and also the other policy options that could be explored.

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