Youth smoking reaches record low levels
Smoking rates among New Zealand’s youth have reached a record low, and more year 10 students than ever are saying no to trying cigarettes.
Former prime minister Helen Clark hosted an event at Parliament yesterday to mark the 25th anniversary of a survey that takes a snapshot of youth smoking rates across the country.
The 2017 survey, conducted by the independent organisation Action for Smokefree 2025 (Ash), shows daily smoking rates for year 10 students are at an all-time low of 2.1 per cent.
A record 82 per cent of year 10s say they have never had a puff of a cigarette.
Clark, who is a patron of Ash, said even though youth smoking was at a record low, the country could not get complacent.
‘‘New Zealand only has seven years left to achieve the Smokefree 2025 goal.’’
To reach the target, national smoking levels must be below 5 per cent by 2025.
About 600,000, or 15.7 per cent, of adults regularly smoke, according to results from the Government’s Health Survey for 2016-17. The survey considers people aged 15 and over to be an adult.
‘‘It does mean we’re in the grasp of a smokefree generation. To achieve the goal, we need to redouble progress on that,’’ Clark said.
‘‘All measures are important, it’s not just one thing, it’s a whole mix. That whole mix needs to be reviewed to see how we can do things, faster.’’
Thirty-five per cent of Ma¯ori adults still smoke, along with 24 per cent of Pacific adults, and there has been no meaningful change for adults aged 35 years and over since 2011-12.
At yesterday’s event, Associate Health Minister Jenny Salesa committed to developing an action plan to achieve the target.
‘‘We want to build on the achievements of tobacco control, and I am committed to developing a plan,’’ she said.
‘‘To see our young people dropping at a rate like this is fantastic, and it is achievable to get to Smokefree 2025.’’
The Government was considering how best to regulate vaping or e-cigarettes, and had asked the Ministry of Health to evaluate the impact of the tax on tobacco, she said.
Although rates were dropping, Ma¯ori students were still five times more likely to report smoking than Pa¯ keha students, Salesa said.
Clark said that in her experience, wha¯ nau-oriented messages were most effective among Ma¯ ori and Pacific groups.
‘‘Messages saying, ‘I want to see my grandchildren grow up’ ... for the big breakthroughs now, we need to go back to the community – what is the community saying will work for them? We should all feel a sense of urgency about working with the community to tackle that.’’
Emeritus professor Robert Beaglehole, Ash’s chairman, said the nation would need to replicate the rapid reduction in year 10 smoking rates if it was to reach the 2025 target.
‘‘We need to achieve what we have achieved for year 10 smoking, for all adults.‘‘
Tobacco taxes generate about $1.9 billion every year once GST is included, and that revenue goes into the consolidated fund – the Government’s main bank account.
It is not tied to quit-smoking efforts or healthcare, meaning rising taxes on smokers are often met with controversy and claims that smokers are paying more than their fair share of tax.
But factor in the economic and social costs of smoking and they would be far in excess of $1.9b, Clark said.
A 2016 Treasury report stated that excess healthcare costs for smokers over non-smokers in New Zealand are about $1.9b.
‘‘The perfect day will be when we don’t collect a cent from tobacco tax because nobody is smoking,’’ Clark said.
The Ash Year 10 Snapshot surveys between 20,000 and 30,000 students every year on their smoking behaviour and attitudes. It is a census-style survey and one of the largest youth smoking surveys in the world.
All New Zealand public and private schools with year 10 students are invited to participate each year. The survey began in 1992 and has been running annually since 1999. Almost 600,000 New Zealanders have taken part in the survey since 1992.
Clark said the survey, which is restricted to teenagers aged 14 and 15, had helped to inform almost every major tobacco control policy in the past 20 years.
Back when the survey was piloted in 1992, daily youth smoking rates were 11.5 per cent, and rising. They peaked at 15.6 per cent in 1999, and have declined steadily ever since.