The British Parliament this week approved a bill that would ban people aged 17 and under from legally purchasing tobacco products during their lifetime.
The UK is the first in Europe and only the second country in the world to implement such measures. Here are five things you need to know about the landmark new UK law.
– What does it stipulate? –
The Tobacco and Vaping Bill legally prohibits anyone born on or after 1 January 2009 from buying cigarettes and other tobacco products in the UK, even if they become adults.
It gives the government new powers to limit the flavors and packaging of e-cigarettes and ban vaping in places where smoking is already banned, a rule that has been extended to children’s playgrounds and areas near schools.
Critics say the products, which often contain nicotine, are popular among young people, in part because of the variety of flavors they offer and their brightly colored packaging.
Last June, the government banned the sale of disposable e-cigarettes, which are cheaper and similarly marketed, and the new bill bans all advertising and sponsorship of e-cigarettes and other nicotine products.
– Why make the change? –
According to the Office for National Statistics, there will be approximately 5.3 million adult smokers in the UK by 2024, accounting for nearly 10% of the total population.
The agency’s data shows that the highest proportion is among people aged 25-34.
Although the number of smokers is at its lowest level in more than a decade, the habit remains the leading cause of preventable death in the UK, killing 80,000 people every year, according to the government.
Last year, a YouGov poll for the health charity Action on Smoking and Health found that more than two-thirds of Britons supported a so-called generational ban on tobacco sales.
The charity’s chief executive, Hazel Cheeseman, called the move “very symbolic” as it marked the aim of “phasing out the legal sale of tobacco throughout the lifetime of people now aged 17”.
“It’s a mindset change.”
Cheeseman acknowledged that smoking may not be completely eliminated in the future, but predicted it would “significantly reduce” smoking rates.
– When will it take effect? –
The law will come into effect as soon as the bill passed by Parliament earlier this week receives royal assent.
The new rules will come into effect on different dates, and some of them are still subject to consultation.
The ban on sales to young people born after 2008 will begin on January 1, 2027, the year they turn 18 and come of age.
Thereafter, the legal minimum age for purchasing tobacco will increase by one year each year, first to 19, then to 20, and so on.
Christine Methnani, 66, a nurse in northern England, welcomed the law.
“Teenagers will never start smoking” after facing peer pressure, she told AFP.
“I see a lot of people who have surgery trying to quit smoking, but that’s because they were forced to quit as teenagers.”
– How will it be performed? –
Smokers themselves will not be punished. But any retailer selling tobacco or related products (such as cigarette papers) to anyone born after 2008 will be fined a fixed fine of £200.
Some opponents of the law have warned that it has the potential to create a black market.
Cancer Research UK policy manager Alijie Flugel countered: “Similar claims have been made about previous tobacco control measures, but they have been proven wrong.”
“This is a common argument in the industry, but time and time again, this doesn’t happen,” she told AFP.
But Froegel acknowledged it was “very likely” that the industry would mount a legal challenge, noting that it had “already done so with landmark smoking laws in the past.”
– How about globally? –
The UK government said the UK would become the second country in the world to impose an intergenerational ban after the Maldives.
The archipelago of 500,000 residents banned the sale of tobacco to young people born after Jan. 1, 2007, in November.
In France, Greens MP Nicolas Thierry introduced a cross-party bill to ban the sale of tobacco to anyone born after 2014.
The US states of Hawaii and Indiana have made similar recommendations.
New Zealand was an early mover, passing plans to impose a ban on people born after 2008, but the center-right National Party abandoned the measure after taking power in 2023 and the ban has not yet been implemented.
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This article was generated from automated news agency feeds without modifications to the text.
