The Green Party is welcoming the petition presented at Parliament today calling for the removal of cigarette displays.
"New and stronger regulations are essential and should be put in place as a matter of urgency," Green Party Associate Health Spokesperson Metiria Turei says.
The petition, which has been signed by more than 20,000 New Zealanders, calls on Parliament to get cigarettes out of sight by banning retail cigarette displays.
"I am pleased to see the Associate Minister acknowledging that changes could be made to the existing regime. However, only the strong measures will work and are needed as a matter of urgency.
"Displays and advertising are all about attracting new smokers and every effort must be made to curb the targeting of new smokers," Mrs Turei says.
"Australian research shows that tobacco companies do everything they can to get around the law, and are constantly changing their marketing strategies to get around current regulations on cigarette displays.
"Many people want to stop smoking, but allowing large displays in every dairy, supermarket and petrol station in the country makes this much harder, at the same time as normalising smoking for young people.
"This is no panacea for tobacco-related problems, but it is a step in the right direction. The World Health Organisation lists tobacco as the second major cause of death in the world. Getting rid of cigarette displays would save many lives.
"The move is unlikely to be popular with the tobacco industry, as they profit from the ready sale of an extremely toxic substance linked to the deaths of many New Zealanders. But the community must be supported in controlling this substance and a point of sale ban is an excellent start," Mrs Turei says.
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