Tobacco, dairy, alcohol and food industry bodies worked together to get New Zealand's Public Health Commission disbanded, a new book claims. Public health is the term given for preventing disease, and it is public health measures, such as the provision of clean water, sewerage, healthy housing, and anti-tobacco legislation that have delivered the biggest leaps forward in human health and longevity. "My colleagues and I were surprised to learn that the food organisations were willing to line up with the tobacco industry," Skegg recalled. SUPPLIED Prime Minister Jenny Shipley in 1998, just three years after she had led the moves to disestablish the Public Health Commission. "The annual reports on the state of the public health noted the effects on health of factors such as unemployment and reduced household incomes resulting from benefit cuts."

Source: Stuff March 17, 2019 00:45 UTC