NEW ZEALAND SHOWS THE WORLD HOW VAPES HELPED CUT ITS SMOKING RATE IN HALF

NEW YORK, Monday 23 September – LEADING international health expert Dr Marewa Glover today warned governments that millions of lives will be unnecessarily lost if policymakers fail to embrace the opportunities offered by tobacco harm reduction (THR) products.

New Zealand’s smoking rate has almost halved in just five years due to the widespread acceptance and use of smoke-free nicotine products such as vapes, Auckland-based Dr Glover told a global forum at the Harvard Club in New York, held alongside the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA79).

Like Sweden, which has also embraced safer alternatives to cigarettes, New Zealand is now on the brink of becoming officially classified as smoke-free and is already reaping the public health dividends.

“New Zealand’s experience shows that giving people access to safer alternatives means that people who smoke can and do quit in large numbers,” Dr Glover said.

“This success, like in Sweden, has been driven by a combination of government-led initiatives and community support, rather than ideological wars against nicotine.”

Dr Glover, co-author of Quitting Strong: New Zealand’s Smoking Cessation Success Story, unveiled an educational video showcasing the public health breakthrough in her homeland and urging other nations to learn from the lessons it offers.

“New Zealand’s success contrasts starkly with that of our neighbour Australia,” she said. “Australia has adopted a far more restrictive and dogmatic approach towards safer alternatives. As a result, it has seen any progress in reducing smoking rates flatlining, an explosion in illicit products and even an upsurge in violence associated with that criminal trade.

“This experience should serve as an urgent warning to the World Health Organization and policymakers who refuse to recognise the value of tobacco harm reduction despite a mounting body of evidence showing that smoke-free alternatives are the most effective tools for helping people who smoke to quit their deadly habit.

“By providing that real-world evidence, New Zealand and Sweden stand as the game-changers that can help to save millions of lives around the globe. Governments must focus on reducing the death and disease caused by smoking and they can do that by following the example of these countries that are already succeeding. The alternative is to condemn millions of people to continue smoking, which will inevitably result in unnecessarily premature death.”

Sweden has reduced its smoking rates by 55% in the last decade by making safer alternatives to cigarettes – such as snus, modern oral nicotine pouches and vapes – acceptable, accessible and affordable. Compared with the rest of the European Union, Sweden now has 44% fewer tobacco-related deaths, a cancer rate that is 41% lower, and 38% fewer deaths attributable to any cancer.

In 2019, New Zealand’s Ministry of Health endorsed vaping as a tool for smoking cessation. Since then, New Zealand has seen its smoking rates almost halve as it too nears smoke-free status, where fewer than 5% of its adult population smokes cigarettes.

ENDS

Notes to editors

Contact

Smoke Free Sweden

Jessica Perkins

info@smokefreesweden.org

www.smokefreesweden.org

About Smoke Free Sweden

Smoke Free Sweden is a movement that encourages other countries to follow the Swedish experience when it comes to Tobacco Harm Reduction. Sweden is about to become the first ‘smoke free’ European country, with a smoking rate below 5 percent. This remarkable achievement can be attributed to Sweden’s open attitude towards alternative nicotine products.

For more information on Sweden’s successful approach to becoming a smoke free nation, please visit www.smokefreesweden.org.