Tobacco control in New Zealand from 1945 to 1961

The 1945 to 1961 period was characterised by a significant increase in the international scientific knowledge of the health risks of smoking. Despite this, there was relatively little response by the New Zealand Government, the New Zealand medical profession and other local agencies. Specific tobacco control activities were virtually limited to some episodic and low profile publicity measures, and an incidental increase in tobacco taxation. This limited response may have partly been due to the slow diffusion of the health risk information to health professionals in this country and the presence of other more obvious health concerns (such as polio epidemics). Other reasons may have been the absence of a New Zealand research base, the lack of focused advocacy groups, political wariness about using tobacco taxation, a minimalist approach by government to product safety regulation and the major extent to which smoking was normalised within New Zealand society. Britain and the US led to further research. Reports linking lung cancer to smoking were published in 1950 by Doll and Hill in Britain, and by Wynder and Graham in the US. As a result of subsequent prospective studies, the American Cancer Society and the British Medical Research Council produced in 1954, independent reports that death rates were higher for cigarette smokers. A number of further studies on smoking and health were published in Britain and the US during the 1950s (e.g. by Doll and Hill in 1954), and the Medical Research Council and the United States Surgeon General gave further strong warnings. However, the unease of some parts of the medical world with the new science of epidemiology was reflected in the confusion by public and politicians over the conclusiveness of the evidence. Nevertheless, by the late 1950s there was evidence of declining tobacco consumption amongst US doctors, partly at least because of concern about health risks such as lung cancer.