Ngati Kahungunu Iwi urge tobacco free shops

Ngati Kahungunu Iwi Incorporated is urging retailers to remove tobacco from public view or from stores altogether to endorse a tobacco-free iwi.
In an email addressed "Dear retailer - we want to live longer" the organisation invited tobacco retail outlets, petrol stations and corner dairies from Wairoa to Wairarapa to "consider removing retail tobacco displays and the sale of tobacco completely".
The organisation believed the initiative was vital for increasing Maori longevity and was part of the Ngati Kahungunu Tobacco Use Strategy. Compliant stores would receive a "Kahungunu Tobacco-Free Certificate of Acknowledgement" for display.