街中で電子たばこを吸う男性
=12月9日、ニュージーランド・オークランド、AP
ニュージーランド議会は、2009年以降に生まれた人が生涯にわたり紙巻きたばこを吸えなくする法案を可決しました。加熱式たばこや電子たばこは容認する方針ですが、合法的に喫煙できる世代が次第に寿命を迎え減少し、やがて「たばこのない国」になることを目指しています。(Asahi Weekly : Sunday, December 25, 2022)

朝日新聞社が発行する週刊英和新聞「Asahi Weekly」からSDGsに関連する記事を掲載しています。(一覧に戻る)
WELLINGTON (AP) — New Zealand on Dec. 13 passed into law a unique plan to phase out tobacco smoking by imposing a lifetime ban on young people buying cigarettes.
The law states that tobacco can't ever be sold to anybody born on or after Jan. 1, 2009.
It means the minimum age for buying cigarettes will keep going up and up. In theory, somebody trying to buy a pack of cigarettes 50 years from now would need ID to show they were at least 63 years old.
But health authorities hope smoking will fade away well before then. They have a stated goal of making New Zealand smoke-free by 2025.
The new law also reduces the number of retailers allowed to sell tobacco from about 6,000 to 600 and decreases the amount of nicotine allowed in tobacco that is smoked.
"There is no good reason to allow a product to be sold that kills half the people that use it," Associate Minister of Health Dr. Ayesha Verrall told lawmakers in parliament. "And I can tell you that we will end this in the future, as we pass this legislation."
She said the health system would save billions of dollars from not needing to treat illnesses caused by smoking, such as cancer, heart attacks, strokes and amputations.
The law does not affect vaping, which has already become more popular than smoking in New Zealand.
Statistics New Zealand reported that 8 percent of New Zealand adults smoked daily, down from 16 percent 10 years ago. Meanwhile, 8.3 percent of adults vaped daily, up from less than 1 percent six years ago.
語句のヒント
- ban (見出しから)禁止
- phase out ~を徐々に廃止する
- impose(-ing) ~を課す
- In theory 理論的には
- stated (事前に)表明された
- Associate...Health 保健省副大臣
- stroke(s) 脳卒中
- amputation(s) (手足などの)切断(手術)
- vaping 電子たばこ

朝日新聞社が発行する週刊英和新聞「Asahi Weekly」(朝日ウイークリー)は日本語ナビ付きで、初級者でも楽しみながら英語に慣れ親しむことができるオールカラーの新聞です。
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朝日新聞社が発行する週刊英和新聞「Asahi Weekly」からSDGsに関連する記事を掲載しています。(一覧に戻る)