According to NZ Herald on January 2nd, Casey Costello, the Deputy Minister of Health in New Zealand, announced that starting next week, e-cigarette starter kits will be provided to smoking cessation services nationwide to assist adults in quitting smoking. However, this move has been criticized by health advocates.
Letitia Harding, CEO of the Asthma and Respiratory Foundation, expressed concerns about the controversial practice of using e-cigarettes to quit smoking.
These products have not yet been approved for smoking cessation by the World Health Organization, the FDA (U.S. Food and Drug Administration), or the New Zealand Medicines and Medical Devices Safety Authority (Medsafe). Therefore, distributing these medications as therapeutic products without going through proper rigorous consultation procedures is truly bizarre. They are set to launch this plan next week, which seems too insane.
Harding noted that the plan lacks details and simply involves moving people from one product to another without a clear exit strategy.
Which products will actually receive funding, and how will they actually break free from long-term nicotine dependence on e-cigarette products? In the next decade or few decades, we may see a "New Zealand without e-cigarettes.
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