New Zealand has announced it will outlaw smoking for the next generation, so that those who are aged 14 and under today will never be legally able to buy tobacco.
New legislation (法规) means the legal smoking age will increase every year, to create a smoke-free generation of New Zealanders, associate Health Minister Dr Ayesha Verrall said on Thursday. “This is a historic day for the health of our people,” she said.
The government announced the rising age alongside other measures to make smoking unaffordable and inaccessible, to try to reach its goal of making the country entirely smoke-free within the next four years. Other measures include reducing the legal amount of nicotine in tobacco products to very low levels, cutting down the shops where cigarettes could legally be sold, and increasing funding to addiction services. The new laws will not restrict vape (电子烟) sales.
New Zealand's daily smoking rates have been dropping over time - down to 11.65% in 2018, from 18% a decade earlier. But smoking rates for Maori and Pacifika were far higher - 29% for Maori and 18% for Pasifika. “If nothing changes, it would be decades till Maori smoking rates fall below 5%,” Verrall said. She said to end smoking in the next four years was within reach: “I believe it is. The issue is, though, if we don't change what we’re doing, we won’t make it for Maori - and that’s what the plan is really focused on”.
Smoking has already been widely replaced by vaping among teenage New Zealanders, which is also attracting many young people who would never have taken up smoking - according to surveying of 19,000 high school students this year, nearly 20% were vaping daily or several times a day, the majority with high nicotine doses. That’s compared to 3% of those aged 15-17 who smoked daily in 2018, or 13% who smoked a decade earlier.
Verrall said the legislation would be introduced in 2022, with the age limits coming in in 2023.
4. What’s the final goal of the new legislation?
A.To forbid the people aged 14 and under to buy tobacco. |
B.To make the country entirely smoke-free within years. |
C.To make buying tobacco hard. |
D.To increase the legal smoking age. |
5. What’s true about New Zealand outlawing smoking for the next generation?
A.Everyone is allowed to purchase tobacco with permit. |
B.Purchase of smoking becomes easier and less pricy. |
C.The vape sales will be greatly influenced. |
D.It benefits the building of a smoke-free generation. |
6. What do the numbers in paragraph 4 reflect?
A.New Zealand’s daily smoking rate is quite low. |
B.It has taken a long time to decrease the rate of smoking. |
C.Smoking rates are not equal among different parts in New Zealand. |
D.The smoking rate will be higher over the years. |
7. What’s the best title of this passage?
A.A Historic Day of Smoking |
B.Decreasing Smoking Rate of New Zealand |
C.Vape-replacement of Tobacco |
D.New Zealand to Ban Smoking for Next Generation |