UK might ban smoking: Here's what the Indian law says about smoking

The Prime Minister of the UK, Rishi Sunak, is considering a ban on smoking for the next generation by introducing some of the world's toughest anti-smoking measures, The Guardian reported earlier this month. The measures the Sunak government is looking to impose include fines on people for missing a hospital appointment and phasing out cigarette sales for the next generation.

According to the report, it is a part of the Sunak government's consumer-focused drive before the next elections are scheduled in 2024.

The UK government's measures will be in line with New Zealand's ban on smoking imposed last year. In December last year, the island nation introduced legislation to stop those aged 14 or under from being able to legally buy cigarettes. It became the first country in the world to impose such a ban.

The New Zealand government also announced that it will introduce a slew of other measures to make smoking less affordable and accessible, including reducing the legal amount of nicotine in tobacco products. The tobacco products will only be sold through specialty tobacco stores rather than corner stores and supermarkets.

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Moreover, the plan included reducing the number of stores legally allowed to sell cigarettes by a tenth, from 6,000 to just 600. The laws came into force this year, and the country attempted to make it "smoke-free" by 2025.

A spokesperson of the UK government was also quoted by The Guardian as saying that the country is aiming to become smoke-free by 2030. It would include providing 1 million smokers in England with free vape kits via our world-first "swap to stop" scheme, launching a voucher scheme to incentivise pregnant women to quit, and consulting on mandatory cigarette pack inserts

Last week, the British government launched a consultation to seek views on adding health alert inserts inside cigarette packs to encourage more smokers to quit, telling them how to enhance their life expectancy and save around 2,000 pounds per year if they abandon smoking.

The plan being considered will see inserts into the packaging of cigarettes and hand-rolling tobacco with positive messages to encourage people to quit and signpost them to advice and support.

The messages will set out the health benefits of quitting smoking, for example, improvements to breathing within a matter of days and a 50 per cent reduction in the risk of heart attack within a year.

They will also show smokers how much money they stand to save by giving up, with the average person likely to save over 2,000 pounds per year if they quit. According to official estimates in the UK, smoking remains the single leading preventable cause of illness and mortality in the country. It results in nearly 4 per cent of all hospital admissions yearly, equivalent to almost 450,000 admissions.

Tobacco-related harms are also estimated to cost British taxpayers 21 billion pounds every year, including over 2 billion pounds in costs to the state-funded National Health Service (NHS).

Which countries have banned tobacco products?

In 2004, Bhutan became the first country in the world to completely ban the cultivation, harvesting, production, and sale of tobacco products under the Tobacco Control Act of Bhutan, 2010. However, small allowances for personal possession were permitted as long as the possessor could prove that they had paid import duties.

Later, in 2021, the ban was reversed with the new Tobacco Control Rules and Regulations (TCRR) 2021, allowing the import, sale and consumption of tobacco products. It was primarily done to stamp out cross-border smuggling.

In 2012, Brazil became the world's first country to ban all flavoured tobacco, including menthol. It applied to all domestically produced and imported cigarettes.

Later in 2016, Turkmenistan banned all tobacco sales in the country. The Pitcairn Islands had previously banned the sale of cigarettes in the country. However, it was allowed via government stores.

In India, on July 12, 1999, a Division Bench of the Kerala High Court in India banned smoking in public places by declaring "public smoking as illegal for the first time in the history of the whole world, unconstitutional and violative of Article 21 of the Constitution".

Later, in 2003, India introduced the Cigarettes And Other Tobacco Products (Prohibition Of Advertisement And Regulation Of Trade And Commerce, Production, Supply And Distribution) Act, 2003, banning smoking in public places like restaurants, public transport or schools.

The same law also made advertising cigarettes or other tobacco products illegal.