Stan Shatenstein, STAN Bulletin, April 18, 2024:

“Britain is poised to launch a world-leading project to create a “smoke-free generation,” after the House of Commons passed a bill Tuesday banning the sale of cigarettes to anyone born in 2009 or later. For years, antismoking health experts have relied on education campaigns and higher taxes to snuff out the habit. Now Britain is going all in on a ban that could spell the end of tobacco here — though wily companies are quickly striving to deliver their nicotine via less harmful delivery systems. Older smokers in Britain would be allowed to continue to buy tobacco until they quit — or die. But the legislation, which must go through a few more steps before it becomes law, would raise the legal age for purchase each year, so that the prohibition would follow younger people indefinitely. Smoking itself would not be subject to fines. Just the sales of those products, with fines for retailers.” [William Booh. U.K. lawmakers pass ‘smoke-free generation’ bill, one of world’s strictest, Washington Post]

“The “right” to smoke is a fake freedom, a cynical fiction punted by the most murderous industry of modern times. No one who surveys the damage inflicted on humanity by smoking since it was first linked with lung cancer by British scientists in the early 1950s can come to any other conclusion. Addiction to nicotine does not admit choice, except in the act of freeing oneself from it, a testing and often unsuccessful process. Those who mobilise liberty of the individual as an argument for allowing fellow citizens to poison themselves to death by inhalation of tobacco — while poisoning others around them — may as well deploy that argument in favour of heroin…

“Rishi Sunak was right, therefore, to table a bill in the House of Commons yesterday calling for the progressive banning of smoking. The prime minister should not concern himself with those in the Conservative parliamentary party who, out of populist ideology or cynical political calculation, voted against the measure. Great reforms must often contend with myopic, reactionary opposition… But the Tobacco and Vapes Bill, which passed its first reading by 383 votes to 67, is an exceptional public health measure supported by most Conservative voters… If elected, Labour must remain faithful to this policy. Mr Sunak should ignore the naysayers. He is on the right side of history. His legacy will be assessed in countless lives saved.” [Leader. The Times view on smoking: Fake Freedom, The Times. See also: MPs back smoking ban for those born after 2009, BBC News; What is the UK smoking ban, how will it work and when will it start?, BBC News; Political longevity of Sunak smoking ban likely to outlast PM, BBC News; MPs vote for smoking ban despite Tories’ division over policy, The Guardian; Tobacco firms lobbying MPs to derail smoking phase-out, charity warns, The Guardian; Podcast: Can Rishi Sunak create a smoke-free generation?, The Guardian]