https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-59589775 BBC
New Zealand to ban cigarettes for future generations
重点翻译：新西兰政府预计在2022年提出，
立法后，在2027年开始施行的法律，
从2027年起，14岁以下的所有国民，
将“一生”被禁止购买香菸或菸草制品。
健康部长 Ayesha Verrall 表示：
“我们要确保年轻人们不会尝试开始抽菸。”
目前新西兰的成人抽菸率大约 13％，十年前则是 18％。
原文：
New Zealand will ban the sale of tobacco to its next generation, in a bid to
eventually phase out smoking.
Anyone born after 2008 will not be able to buy cigarettes or tobacco products
in their lifetime, under a law expected to be enacted next year.
"We want to make sure young people never start smoking," Health Minister Dr
Ayesha Verall said.
The move is part of a sweeping crackdown on smoking announced by New
Zealand's health ministry on Thursday.
Doctors and other health experts in the country have welcomed the
"world-leading" reforms which will reduce access to tobacco and restrict
nicotine levels in cigarettes.
"It will help people quit or switch to less harmful products, and make it
much less likely that young people get addicted to nicotine," said Prof Janet
Hook from the University of Otago.
New Zealand is determined to achieve a national goal of reducing its national
smoking rate to 5% by 2025, with the aim of eventually eliminating it
altogether.
Currently, about 13% of New Zealand adults smoke, down from 18% about a
decade ago. But the rate is much higher - about 31%- among the indigenous
Maori population who also suffer a higher rate of disease and death.
New Zealand's health ministry says smoking causes one in four cancers and
remains the leading cause of preventable death for its five million strong
population. The industry has been the target of legislators for more than a
decade now.
As part of the crackdown announced on Thursday, the government also
introduced major tobacco controls, including significantly restricting where
cigarettes can be sold to remove them from supermarkets and corner stores.
The number of shops authorised to sell cigarettes will be drastically reduced
to under 500 from about 8,000 now, officials say.
In recent years, vaping - smoking e-cigarettes which produce a vapour that
also delivers nicotine - has become far more popular among younger
generations than cigarettes.
New Zealand health authorities warn however, that vaping is not harmless.
Researchers have found hazardous, cancer-causing agents in e-cigarette
liquids as well.
But in 2017 the country adopted vaping as a pathway to help smokers quit
tobacco.