For the third year running, the Cancer Society was pleased to complete the NZ/Aotearoa Tobacco Industry Interference Report.
NZ/Aotearoa Tobacco Industry Interference Report highlights the many tactics tobacco companies and their affiliates employ to kill, weaken, or delay essential policies to reduce tobacco use in New Zealand.
This report on NZ tobacco industry interference informed the Global Tobacco Index 2021, which highlights how the tobacco industry interferes in public policy in 80 countries worldwide.
While New Zealand is doing better than a lot of countries, there are still measures we need to put in place to protect ourselves from the interference of tobacco companies, as we strive to reach the goal of Smokefree Aotearoa 2025 and meet our obligations under the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC).
Some points of note in the NZ/Aotearoa Tobacco Industry Interference Report
- There were many instances of industry representatives or their affiliates participating in public consultation on tobacco regulation and lobbying against proposed tobacco control laws.
- There is no specific policy to prevent contributions from the tobacco industry to political parties, candidates or campaigns, and lobbyists who seek to derail public health policies are not regulated.
- The NZ Government does not regulate the work of political lobbyists so it can be challenging to expose TI links to, and funding of, allied groups. Recent investigations into the unregulated role lobbyists have in NZ policy making have led to some new measures to address these perceived freedoms.
Download the fact sheet or the full report below.