Smoking raises Maori mortality

Ruapehu Bulletin, Volume 7, Issue 336, 15 May 1990, Page 7

Smoking raises Maori mortality

Smoking is the single most lmportant j cause of death and disease in Maori people and tobacco companies are to blame, according to Professor Eru Pomare of the Wellington Medical School and Chairman of Te Hotu Manawa Maori, the Maori Heartbeat project.

"The fact that smoking is the norm in Maori families and that young Maori continue to be recruited to the smoking ranks attests to the powerful effects of the tobacco companies' advertising and promotion campaigns," says Professor Pomare. "Tobacco companies profit enormously from the Maori community who spend in excess of $100,000,000 annually on tobacco products," he says. Research indicates that 64 percent of Maori women smoke, up by 5.5 percent in seven years. Of Maori women between 15-35 years old, 78 percent are regular smokers. This group makes up almost 50 percent of the Maori smoking population. Almost one in three Maori smokes

over a packet of cigarettes per day and few, having started the habit, give up. Te Hotu Manawa Maori is in total agreement with the proposed anti-smoking legislation aimed at banning advertising and sponsorship and smoking in the workplace. "The legislation will have a far reaching effect on the health of all New Zealanders and particularly Maori people" says Eru Pomare. "In fact if we concentrated all our resources and efforts in tackling the smoking issue alone, more progress in the overall health status of the Maori would be made than by doing any other single thing," says Professor Pomare.