UK introduces bill to outlaw teens buying cigarettes
LONDON, U.K.: The British Parliament introduced legislation this week that would effectively ban children from ever legally being able to smoke.
The Tobacco and Vapes Bill aims to ban smoking and vaping in certain outdoor areas, including playgrounds and the entrances to schools and hospitals. However, a proposed ban on smoking in pub beer gardens has been removed due to opposition from bar owners.
Health Secretary Wes Streeting mentioned that the hospitality industry has “taken a real battering in recent years” and stressed that now is not “the right time” to impose a ban on outdoor smoking in pubs.
The bill also proposes restrictions on vape flavors and a ban on eye-catching packaging aimed at children, with the goal of countering “a cynical industry that has sought to addict a new generation of children to nicotine,” as explained by Streeting.
Additionally, it builds on a plan initiated by the previous Conservative government, which was ousted in the general election in July, to increase the minimum age for purchasing tobacco by one year annually.
This policy aims to ensure that anyone born after January 1, 2009, will never be able to buy cigarettes legally in Britain.
Currently, it is illegal to sell cigarettes, tobacco products, or vapes to those under 18 years of age. If the bill is passed-likely due to the Labour Party’s substantial majority in Parliament-it would place Britain among the countries with the strictest anti-smoking regulations in the world.
The government has stated that the legislation “breaks the cycle of addiction and paves the way for a smoke-free U.K.”
Despite a two-thirds decline in smoking rates since the 1970s, official figures indicate that approximately 6.4 million people, or around 13 percent of the population, still smoke in Britain.
Authorities report that smoking is responsible for roughly 80,000 deaths each year in the U.K. and remains the leading preventable cause of death, disability, and poor health.