Shane Bradbrook: Demonise the baccy barons

Here are the facts: tobacco is the single biggest killer of Maori; it accounts for a third of all our deaths; this means higher rates of lung cancer, heart disease, cot death, respiratory infections, glue ear, meningococcal disease and diabetes.

Almost one in two Maori smoke. That's way higher than any other group in the country. Fifty-nine per cent of 20- to 24-year-olds are smoking. About a third of our girls in year 10 smoke.

Let's call it what it is: legal genocide. I'm using the term "Maori murder" more and more to cut through the ever-present messages that clutter the modern communications landscape. What we are dealing with is an international industry that simply shouldn't exist. It sells a product that kills people and it deliberately targets vulnerable populations like Maori.

Some people might think I'm a bit intense about all this. "It's not just about Maori, you know, Shane."

But here's a great quote from a tobacco industry executive when asked why he didn't smoke himself: "We don't smoke this shit, we reserve it for the dumb, the black, the ignorant and the poor."

There's no doubt in my mind that in this country it's very much about targeting Maori, and in the industry's eyes we're probably a perfect market. Tobacco companies have done a better job of converting iwi Maori than the missionaries.

We've actually got it a bit wrong over the past few years. The huge health campaigns that have been developed, while well-meaning, have bombarded the Maori population with health messages. They're effectively being told off all the time, do this, don't do that. The impact is they feel like they can't do anything, they feel immobilised.

These expensive advertising campaigns subtly shift the responsibility away from the tobacco industry on to smokers. Because the prevalence rate in our population is so astronomically high, Maori are spotlighted.

Any public health expert will tell you that if you don't address the socio-economic determinants of health, you will only ever "chip away" at this enormous problem.

In the United States, African-Americans have dramatically reduced their smoking prevalence rates below those for the general population. How did they do it? Black leaders framed the issue as a human rights violation; they politicised it, and demonised the industry.

That is why Te Reo Marama supports the Maori Party's bill to ban the sale of tobacco and related products.

Some members of the tobacco control movement have ended up aligning themselves with the tobacco industry, by arguing that banning the sale of tobacco would increase illicit trade. As an alternative, they have suggested further regulation.

If you're serious about stopping this genocide, there's no happy compromise with the tobacco industry.

So what are the implications for Maori and what should we be planning?

First and foremost, I believe we need to follow the African-American example and shift our focus away from Maori smokers.

Of course we need to continue to work with them to quit smoking - for the sake of their health and their whanau. But at the moment the equation is imbalanced. There is almost no public money spent educating our people about how they are exploited by the tobacco industry.

This may seem like a battle of David and Goliath proportions but around the world we are seeing what can happen when brave individuals and groups rise to the challenge.

Just last week a Los Angeles court ordered tobacco giant Philip Morris to pay a whopping US$82 million ($130.14 million) to the widow of a longtime smoker of its Marlboro cigarettes.

Resourcing needs to be more equitably targeted at Maori services and providers. It's harder for Maori to quit because they live in environments where smoking is more commonplace.

Research tells us that intensive by-Maori-for-Maori interventions achieve quit rates three times higher than their mainstream counterparts.

Maori, as a culture, are in a vibrant period that indicates a positive future. Eliminating tobacco from the mix will provide a basis for further advancement of Maori on economic, health and cultural grounds.

* Shane Bradbrook is director of Te Reo Marama (the Maori Smokefree Coalition).