UK’s members of the parliament will debate plans for some of the world’s toughest anti-tobacco laws.
According to BBC, Prime Minister of the UK, Rishi Sunak, in a major health intervention, wants to make Generation Alpha, born in 2009, the UK’s first smoke-free generation.
Under the 'Tobacco and Vapes Bill,' anyone turning 15 this year would be banned from buying cigarettes.
Additionally, under this act, trading standards officers will get new powers to issue on-the-spot £100 fines to shops selling tobacco or vapes to children.
There would also be new restrictions on flavour, packaging and sale to make it less appealing to children.
Health Secretary Victoria Atkins believed that this bill would save thousands of lives.
She mentioned, “Too many people know someone whose life has been tragically cut short or irreversibly changed because of smoking, which, despite significant progress, remains the UK's biggest preventable killer.”
Atkins furthered, “The truth is that there is no safe level of tobacco consumption. It is uniquely harmful, and that is why we are taking this important action today to protect the next generation."
Meanwhile, a member of Tory MPs has told BBC that they will not back this bill.
Use of tobacco is the number one, preventable cause of death in the UK, causing 80,000 deaths every year.
Moreover, almost every minute in England, a patient is admitted to a hospital with a smoking-related condition such as stroke, lung cancer or heart disease.
