U.K. to ban sale of tobacco to people born after 2008 to create ‘smoke-free’ generation

The sale of tobacco products to people born in 2009 or later will be illegal under a new bill passed by Britain’s Parliament.

The House of Lords and House of Commons agreed on the language for the Tobacco and Vapes Bill earlier this week. It is still waiting on the approval of King Charles III to officially become a law, but the process is, per the Parliament website, “a formality.”

The sale of tobacco products to people under 18 was already illegal, but the impending law will raise the minimum age to buy the products each year, thereby preventing the minors who currently cannot buy the products from ever being able to do so, according to The Associated Press.

Parliament hopes the future law will create a new “smoke-free” generation, per its news release on the bill’s passage. 

Health Secretary Wes Streeting, a member of the ruling Labor Party, said that “prevention is better than cure. This reform will save lives, ease pressure on the [National Health Service] and build a healthier Britain,” according to The Guardian.

Around 13% of the U.K’s population, 6.4 million people, are smokers; British officials say that smoking causes about 80,000 deaths per year, according to the AP.

Once it is law, the bill will also restrict how vapes and vaping products are branded, promoted and advertised so that they do not target children, according to The Guardian.