Last night’s award of a ‘Dirty Ashtray’, a civil society award, to the New Zealand Government shows Aotearoa is now attracting international attention for all the wrong reasons, tobacco control researchers at the University of Otago, Wellington – Ōtākou Whakaihu Waka, Pōneke, say.
The ‘Dirty Ashtray’ was given to New Zealand at the biennial meeting of Parties to the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control in Geneva, Switzerland.
Janet Hoek
It follows last week’s news that Aotearoa New Zealand had fallen from second to 53rd in the global Tobacco Industry Interference Index.
Co-Director of the ASPIRE Aotearoa Research Centre, Professor Janet Hoek, comments: “Last week the Cancer Society’s Tobacco Industry Interference Index marked a cataclysmic decline for Aotearoa New Zealand. The ‘Dirty Ashtray’ award reinforces the Cancer Society’s conclusions.
“New Zealand was once a leader in global tobacco control policy. Now, our national shame is playing out on an international stage.”
The ‘Dirty Ashtray’ is awarded each year at the Conference of the Parties (COP) meeting following a review of international progress and consideration of each country’s performance. The Global Alliance for Tobacco Control, a civil society watch dog that includes tobacco control champions, recognises governments that have weakened strong policy and followed pro-tobacco industry messages with the awards.
The citation for New Zealand reads:
“For trying to portray their current tobacco control plan as a success when in reality since COP10 they’ve reversed world-leading reforms, sabotaged Indigenous tobacco-free aspirations, have alarming vaping rates among young people and have plummeted from 2nd to 53rd on the global index for tobacco industry interference. New Zealand’s legislative reversal is being used by tobacco industry interests globally to push bad policy.”
Dr Mary Assunta, Head of Global Research and Advocacy at Global Center for Good Governance in Tobacco Control (GGTC) and principal author of the Global Tobacco Industry Interference Index, commented: “If Aotearoa had implemented the measures the coalition Government repealed, large, rapid and equitable declines in smoking prevalence were predicted. The repeal undermined long-held aspirations of Māori to return to a nicotine-free society.”
The Dirty Ashtray Award is presented at the Conference of the Parties (COP) to the World Health Organization Framework Convention on Tobacco Control to individuals, organisations, or countries deemed to be obstructing global tobacco control efforts or promoting the interests of the tobacco industry. The criteria include recognising governments that accept, support or endorse policies or legislation in collaboration with the tobacco industry.
The award is administered by the Global Alliance for Tobacco Control (GATC), which supports the development, ratification and implementation of the international treaty, the WHO Framework on Tobacco Control (FCTC).
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