Generation smoke-free

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NICK EICHER, HOST: Up next: World Tour.

Young people in the U.K. may soon find themselves unable to buy tobacco, ever. Last week, the U.K. Parliament passed a bill banning its sale to kids born in or after 2009. 

WORLD’s Emma Eicher has the story.

EMMA EICHER: The U.K. just joined a growing movement to stamp out smoking for good.

Last week, health minister Gillian Merron championed the new law on the floor of the House of Lords.

GILLIAN MERRON: It is a landmark bill, my Lords. It will create a smoke-free generation. It is in fact the biggest public health intervention in a generation.

The bill bans sales of tobacco to anyone born on or after January 1st, 2009. And it targets the retailers who sell it to them, rather than the minors who might possess it.

That stands to tightly limit supply of tobacco, but addressing demand will be a long game.

Proponents of the bill say preventing nicotine addiction early is key.

CAROLINE CERNY: We know that most people who do smoke did start smoking before the age of 20.

That’s Caroline Cerny. She’s the Deputy Chief Executive of the U.K.-based organization Action on Smoking and Health, or ASH.

CHERNY: A really high proportion of people who smoke wish they'd never started, because once you do start smoking, it's so addictive, it's very hard to stop, so for most people they wish they’d never started.

The bill has been a few years in the making and is one of the first of its kind to ban smoking on a generational basis.

CERNY: So it was first announced by our last Prime Minister, Rishi Sunak, who worked for the Conservative government.

Last year, the Maldives banned tobacco sales to anyone born after January 1st, 2007. Australia and France both have versions of Tobacco-Free Generation policies under legislative consideration. New Zealand already passed a ban but later repealed it. And in the U.S., Massachusetts has implemented similar bans in 22 communities.

But critics warn that the sweeping U.K. legislation will be slow to achieve its goals, and might raise unintended consequences.

Christopher Snowdon is the head of lifestyle economics at the Institute of Economic Affairs.

CHRISTOPHER SNOWDON: The age limit itself will not actually stop people smoking. It won't stop people buying cigarettes. It will just stop them being able to do it legally.

He says minors who want to smoke will find ways to get around the law.

SNOWDON: This is a form of prohibition, and prohibition always creates black markets unless you can stamp out demand completely.

The U.K. already struggles with black market cigarette sales. A four year U.K. study showed that sales of cigarettes have fallen sharply, while the number of smokers hasn’t kept up with the decline. 

Snowdon says this new bill gives further ground for criminals to set up shop. Black market cigarettes are tax-free, and much cheaper.

SNOWDON: They're what they call illicit white cigarettes that have never been legally available anywhere in the world, brands like Manchester and Top Gun, which you now see quite often in the streets of Britain, despite you not being able to buy legally anywhere.

Proponents of the U.K. bill anticipate it will force a drop in demand for the next generation, which will in turn tamp down on black market activity.

But some say the law infringes on the rights of adults to make their own choices.

SIMON CLARK: If adults choose to smoke, that's a matter for them; it's not a matter for government.

Simon Clark is the director of FOREST, an acronym for Freedom Organization for the Right to Enjoy Smoking Tobacco. 

Clark himself is a nonsmoker, but he views the law as a slippery slope that could lead to more government restrictions.

CLARK: And, it could be argued that choosing to smoke is a poor choice, but we make lots of poor choices in life and we have to have the freedom to make those poor choices, and maybe later in life we'll change them.

Already, the U.K. has considered policies to tighten regulations on the sale of alcohol, though none have gone into effect.

The Crown is set to complete the last step of the legislative process and approve the Tobacco and Vapes bill this week.

That’s this week’s World Tour. I’m Emma Eicher.

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