NZ Minister commended for defending science over ideology in tobacco control

STOCKHOLM – International health experts have commended New Zealand Associate Health Minister Casey Costello for defending safer nicotine alternatives against misinformation from pressure groups that is putting millions of lives at risk.

Minister Costello this week described the Global Tobacco Industry Interference Index as “ridiculous”, pointing out that New Zealand’s priority is to reduce smoking, not to score points in an index that rewards hostility toward industry rather than health outcomes.

New Zealand’s adult smoking rate has halved in less than a decade to 6.9%, placing the country on the brink of achieving smoke-free status. This dramatic reduction has been achieved by government promotion of vaping as a quitting tool. Yet the country has plummeted to 53rd place in the Index, which is funded by US-based Bloomberg Philanthropies.

By contrast, Brunei, which tops the rankings, has a smoking rate of 17.2%, and France, ranked 12th, has a rate four times higher than New Zealand’s at 27%.

“Minister Costello is absolutely right: what matters is how many people smoke, not how loudly governments condemn the tobacco industry,” said Dr Delon Human, leader of Smoke Free Sweden and a former secretary-general of the World Medical Association.

“The Global Tobacco Industry Interference Index has become a political tool, not a public health one. It punishes countries that embrace harm reduction and rewards those that block life-saving alternatives.”

Smoke Free Sweden advocates for evidence-based harm reduction, crediting Sweden’s near smoke-free success – just 5.3% smoking prevalence – to the wide availability of safer nicotine products like snus, nicotine pouches and vaping.

“New Zealand’s results speak for themselves,” Dr Human added. “By allowing adult smokers access to safer alternatives, they are saving lives. That is the real measure of success, not the opinions of Bloomberg-funded pressure groups.”

Smoke Free Sweden called on other governments to follow New Zealand’s lead by prioritising outcomes over ideology and by recognising that embracing innovation, transparency and adult choice is the surest path to ending smoking for good.