The Briefing

Party pills now have stringent government-promulgated rules and processes. All but one MP voted for the new law. The irony is that tobacco – and for that matter alcohol – with orders of magnitude more harm gets the wet bus ticket regulatory treatment.

A New Zealand randomized trial of e-cigarettes just published in the prestigious Lancet journal has been touted in the media as showing how good e-cigarettes are for people wanting to quit smoking.  Professory Tony Blakely says this is overstating the study findings.

It is now time to reduce the number and density of retail outlets selling tobacco.  Retail supply restrictions are both a logical component of policies that will achieve a tobacco-free New Zealand by 2025, and what the majority of consumers want.

The “100% Pure” marketing of NZ has been in the news. This blog suggests there is a case for striving to achieve the “100% level” through 100% elimination of a hazard or risk. Namely, tobacco, human papilloma virus (HPV), measles, and rotavirus.

An article we published last week generated plenty of debate in particular on the complexities of taxing food. In this blog, Professor Nick Wilson argues that, yes, such tax packages have to be well designed (and more research would be helpful), but nevertheless that there is much that could be potentially gained by taxes on saturated fat.