Britain’s health minister has announced a tougher tobacco control bill, with plans to gradually raise the legal age to buy cigarettes by 2025 so that people born after 2009 cannot legally smoke, in a bid to create a “smoke-free generation”.
UK Health Secretary Wes Streeting with UK President Sir Keir Starmer at the new NHS consultation, where we promised a “more ambitious” bill to strengthen tobacco control laws, the Independent reported on 21 October.
The plan is expected to be published in 2025, and the data and technical means will be more widely used. Streeting said combining genetic testing, artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning, and big data will help predict and prevent disease. He stressed that the new law will gradually raise the legal age to buy cigarettes, to make it impossible for people born after January 1, 2009, to smoke legally.
Streeting told reporters at a medical facility in east London on Monday,
- “We will introduce the tobacco and vape bill before Christmas. The discussion about measures on cigarettes and vapes has already begun, and we are listening to the public.”
In addition, the British government is considering anti-smoking measures, which has caused some anxiety in the entertainment industry.
Streeting noted that public health benefits must be measured against individual freedom and commercial impact.
- “When the new tobacco control bill is introduced, it will be more ‘ambitious’ than the last government bill. The important significance is that our children growing up will be the first smoke-free generation ‘.” This change will dramatically alter one of the most important health threats in China.”
In addition, charitable organizations and experts in the health sector expressed disappointment that the bill was shelved after the election. Quit Smoking and Health Action Group. Hazel Cheeseman, chief executive of Action on Smoking and Health, said in a statement,
- “This will be legislation that all the politicians involved in this legislation will be proud of for years to come.”
- “The debate around the new legislation is very important. However, the real debate must not be undermined by those who have commercial vested interests under the guise of liberal arguments. There is no freedom in addiction.”
