The New Zealand Nurses Organisation Tōpūtanga Tapuhi Kaitiaki o Aotearoa (NZNO) is horrified by statements from Finance Minister Nicola Willis that the Government is experimenting with using heated tobacco products as an alternative to cigarettes to see if they will help people to stop smoking.

This follows a recent halving of the excise tax on heated tobacco products.

The Minister made these statements on Radio New Zealand’s Morning Report programme today.

NZNO Board Member and Nurse Practitioner Lucy McLaren says it is difficult to understand the rational that making tobacco products more available will lead to less people smoking.

"It’s horrifying that our finance minister sees this as an opportunity to gamble with the health and lives of our people.

"There is no evidence that making more tobacco products available will help people quit smoking, and there is no conclusive, independent evidence they are less harmful than cigarettes. We think this ‘experiment’ is more likely to result in more people - particularly young people - smoking.

"It’s our tamariki using these products. We know the tobacco industry is already marketing heated tobacco products to rangatahi. Once they are hooked on these, they’ve got a customer for life.

"We know that smoking and the use of tobacco products is harmful to health. The only ones benefiting from this ‘experiment’ will be the tobacco industry.

"We call upon the Government to halt this experiment and reverse the decision on tax cuts for heated tobacco products," says Ms McLaren.