National/Act/NZF coalition agreement scraps smokefree environments amendment act.
That legislation has the potential to be the single most important step against cancer in our lifetime.
Huge blow for cancer prevention.
Prof. Chris Jackson
3,932 posts
Prof. Chris Jackson
@drkiwicj
Professor of Oncology @Otago. Medical Oncologist. UICC Board member. Co-lead Cancer National Clinical Network. Passionate patient advocate.
Dunedin NZ
Joined October 2014
- I've never seen the health sector so unified as they are opposing the #Smokefree changes. And universally, every health professional and academic I have spoken to thinks scrapping the smokefree changes will cost lives. Every. Single. One. The health advice is clear.
- Protest crowd stretching from Fredrick St to the Octogon. Largest protest crowd Dunedin has seen in my lifetime
- Māori are 20% more likely to get cancer and twice as likely to die from it. Inequities by ethnicity are real, pervasive, and unfair. Doing nothing about that means you're fine with that. Not this doctor.
- Sickening that there's money for tax cuts for tobacco companies yet Dunedin Hospital new build is facing a downgrade #priorities #choices
- So we've lost Te Aka Whai Ora, Smoke free laws, free prescriptions for the sick and needy, and haven't got the free cancer drugs that we were promised. Not the kind of transformational change our health system is needing. #budget2024
- Would like to see the Herald run a story about people who decide to stay put in NZ because they like it and it has a lot to offer. Would be a nice change, and there seem to be a lot.
- So far, @drayeshaverrall has - - overhauled contact tracing - made fluoridation centrally decided (read: compulsory) - moved to self testing HPV screening - fortified bread And today, - outlawed cigarettes for a generation Reminder: this is *year one*.
- The Venn diagram of people getting outraged at "Meri Kirihimete", who also post anti-Ardern and anti-Vax sentiment is quite the circle.
- The thing about telling hospitals to "live within their means" is that it's govt who decides what those means are. A hiring freeze on doctors and nurses is a political choice.
- My colleagues who treat lung cancer say rolling back smoke free would cause more smoking deaths. Mark Patterson MP @markpfarmer says they're catastrophising. Do you know what's really catastrophic? Being diagnosed with lung cancer.
- Hello US #oncologists - anyone interested in moving to NZ, we're recruiting. Fixed term positions of 4 years are available. Permanent posts also. Jobs available from Jan 6. DM for more details.
- Wait, what? Govt talking points on #Smokefree weren't evidence based, or supported by official advice? What then were the reasons for repealling smokefree? Couldn't have been #BigTobacco influence, could it??
- So we're going to have legislation introduced to reverse #smokefree laws that will be passed under urgency, without select committee review, without public consultation, based on false assertions, that experts and officials reject. This is not how serious govt shd work.
