{"id":25862,"date":"2025-08-06T09:14:48","date_gmt":"2025-08-06T09:14:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/clearingtheair.eu\/?p=25862"},"modified":"2025-08-06T09:14:51","modified_gmt":"2025-08-06T09:14:51","slug":"new-zealand-nears-smoke-free-status-thanks-to-vaping-says-minister","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/clearingtheair.eu\/en\/post\/new-zealand-nears-smoke-free-status-thanks-to-vaping-says-minister\/","title":{"rendered":"New Zealand nears smoke-free status thanks to vaping, says minister"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a><\/div>\n

New Zealand is on the cusp of becoming one of the first countries to go officially smoke-free – and it\u2019s thanks to vaping and other safer nicotine alternatives, according to its Associate Minister of Health.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In a passionate parliamentary speech, Casey Costello credited the country\u2019s harm reduction approach with cutting adult smoking rates nearly in half over the past decade. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

She slammed \u201cscaremongering\u201d and ideological opposition that threaten to derail progress toward a five per cent daily smoking rate, which is the World Health Organisation\u2019s benchmark for a smoke-free nation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Costello told parliament New Zealand had moved beyond \u201cvirtue-signalling catchphrases\u201d to deliver a \u201cclear, supported, reduced-harm pathway from smoking.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Adult smoking rate nearly halved<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

That pathway has included the use of vaping as a quit-smoking tool through public health services, and it\u2019s worked. Since 2011, the adult smoking rate has nearly halved<\/a> from 13.1 per cent to 6.9 per cent in 2024. New Zealand is now within reaching distance of smoke-free status, with many experts pointing to its embrace of harm reduction as the reason.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dr. Delon Human, former secretary general of the World Medical Association and current head of Smoke Free Sweden, praised Costello\u2019s stance as an example of \u201cwhat public health leadership should look like.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

\u201cNew Zealand has achieved in less than a decade what many countries have failed to accomplish in generations,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd they\u2019ve done it by embracing the science of harm reduction rather than succumbing to moral panic.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

He added: \u201cWhen Associate Minister Costello talks about cutting through the \u2018scaremongering\u2019 and \u2018noise\u2019 to focus on practical solutions, she\u2019s describing exactly the challenge we face across much of the world.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Long term smokers \u2018need tools and support\u2019 to quit<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Costello made clear that supporting people who smoke – especially those who are most addicted – requires more than slogans or bans. \u201cThere are long-term, addicted smokers who need to be given the tools and support they need to quit,\u201d she said, defending the country\u2019s pragmatic focus on access to safer alternatives.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

New Zealand\u2019s model builds on harm reduction lessons from Sweden, which has long led the European Union in low smoking rates primarily through widespread use of snus and nicotine pouches. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sweden has already hit smoke-free status and has the lowest tobacco-related disease rates in Europe. Now, New Zealand\u2019s vaping-inclusive approach is proving that a modern harm reduction model can succeed beyond Scandinavia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cToo often, public health policy is driven by ideology rather than evidence,\u201d said Dr. Human. \u201cNew Zealand shows us what\u2019s possible when we listen to front-line quit-smoking workers and focus on what actually works.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Costello\u2019s speech also quoted Professor Robert Beaglehole, a global health authority and prominent advocate for tobacco harm reduction, who said New Zealand is \u201cleading the world in reducing smoking.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Saving lives<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Dr. Human agreed, saying Costello deserves recognition for refusing to \u201crecoil from the fight\u201d against those who oppose safer alternatives. \u201cHer commitment to evidence-based policy over populist gestures represents the kind of courageous leadership that saves lives,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With daily smoking rates nearing the five per cent target, New Zealand is showing that success is not just possible – it\u2019s repeatable, if governments are willing to follow the evidence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Smoke Free Sweden is now urging other nations to follow suit. It said: \u201cWe call on policymakers worldwide to study New Zealand\u2019s success and consider how similar harm reduction approaches could accelerate progress toward smoke-free goals across the continent.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

New Zealand is on the cusp of becoming one of the first countries to go officially smoke-free – and it\u2019s thanks to vaping and other safer nicotine alternatives, according to its Associate Minister of Health. In a passionate parliamentary speech, Casey Costello…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":990002,"featured_media":25863,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[257],"tags":[329,334,342,186,333],"slider":[],"class_list":["post-25862","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-european-union","tag-global","tag-new-zealand","tag-nicotine","tag-sweden"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/clearingtheair.eu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25862","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/clearingtheair.eu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/clearingtheair.eu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/clearingtheair.eu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/990002"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/clearingtheair.eu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=25862"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/clearingtheair.eu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25862\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":25869,"href":"https:\/\/clearingtheair.eu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25862\/revisions\/25869"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/clearingtheair.eu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/25863"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/clearingtheair.eu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25862"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/clearingtheair.eu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=25862"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/clearingtheair.eu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=25862"},{"taxonomy":"slider","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/clearingtheair.eu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/slider?post=25862"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}