Health experts are urging Ottawa to take inspiration from a New Zealand policy by banning the sale of cigarettes for life for anyone born after 2008, according to the Globe and Mail.
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Clinical researcher at the University of Ottawa Heart Institute specializing in smoking cessation, Andrew Pipe, believes New Zealand’s policy deserves special attention from Health Canada and the Minister of Health Mental Health and Addictions.
“This is an ideal way to prevent the development of a new generation of nicotine addicts,” he said. We must consider it and look at this option very carefully.”
He added that tobacco still represents an “incredible burden” on the health system today. Andrew Pipe noted that Britain is considering adopting a law similar to that planned in New Zealand. According to him, the opportunity is great for Ottawa which could follow suit.
New Zealand’s law was welcomed by several states around the world. It was to ban the sale of cigarettes for life to young people born after 2008. However, the new Prime Minister Christopher Luxon indicated that elected officials would repeal the law before it came into force.
Dr Pipe believes the New Zealanders’ project is a pragmatic way to make a difference.
An Ottawa medical officer of health, Vera Etches, commented last November on the federal Tobacco and Vaping Products Act. She also argued the government should take inspiration from New Zealand.
For his part, the senior political analyst at the Canadian Cancer Society, Rob Cunningham, supports New Zealand’s policy. He recalled that the majority of Canadians who smoke started when they were preteens or teenagers.