Tobacco Display Legislation Introduced in Parliament

Associate Health Minister, Tariana Turia has said that there is a need to get more serious about the risks of smoking and the harms caused by smoking.

Therefore, legislation was today introduced in the parliament in an attempt to discourage smoking by removing displays of tobacco products in dairies and other retail outlets.

She asserted that the Government was quite serious about the reduction of the harms caused by smoking. She said, "It's harder to quit when you walk into a shop and are confronted with the instant temptation of tobacco on display".

She asserted that most of the smokers wish that there was some way which could help them quit smoking. There is a strong link between displays and young people taking up smoking.

Some evidences have shown that tobacco displays prompt impulse purchasing. A time would come when a person would be able to walk into the local corner shop `without being confronted with images of tobacco enticing customers to take up a habit which is unhealthy, addictive, and costly'.

The Health Select Committee will now be asked for a sanction following which the committee will call for public submissions.