(MENAFN- Live Mint)

The Maldives has become the world's first country to enforce a generational smoking ban-prohibiting anyone born on or after 1 January 2007 from buying, selling, or using tobacco in any form, including cigarettes. The rule applies to tourists as well.

Other nations, including New Zealand and the UK, have attempted to ban smoking among children, but with little success. Mint examines whether these bans really work.

What does the Maldives' new policy on tobacco say?

The Maldives is the world's first country to ban 'generational smoking'. Besides barring anyone under the age of 18 from buying, selling, or using tobacco, it has ordered retailers to verify the age of every customer buying such products.

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Though tourists will also have to follow the rule, the government said it does not expect the ban to affect the country's mainstay tourism business.

Last year, Maldives banned all vapes and electronic cigarettes as part of the country's Tobacco Control Act, 2024. Under this law, all tobacco use was banned in government buildings. Businesses could lose their licence if tobacco is illegally used on their premises.

Maldives President Mohamed Muizzu has repeatedly said his government will invest in policies to safeguard the health of the young as the country's population begins to age.

But do these bans really work?

Some research says that they do. Last year, the International Agency for Research, a World Health Organization (WHO) body, published a study that found a ban on tobacco sale to people born in 2006-2010 could prevent 1.2 million lung cancer deaths by 2095.

This was the first study of its kind, drawing on data from the WHO's Mortality Database that included 185 countries. However, critics have said such bans undermine freedom and the right to choose in a liberal democracy.

A research paper in the Australian journal Monash Bioethics Review published last year argued that the argument was invalid because smoking is addictive and therefore, the choice to smoke is not an autonomous one.

Have other countries tried such 'generational' bans?

Yes. In the UK, a similar ban on tobacco called the The Tobacco and Vapes Bill bans the sale of tobacco to anyone born on or after 1 January 2009. The bill was passed in the House of Commons and is now pending with the House of Lords.

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The UK's Office of National Statistics found in a survey last year that 5.4 million adults in the country used vapes compared to 4.9 million cigarette users, largely 25-49 year olds.

New Zealand enacted a similar ban in 2022, banning everyone born in or after 2009 from buying and using tobacco products. While Left leaning parties and Maori associations-the country's indigenous people-praised the ban, rightwing groups opposed it saying the ban would create a black market for tobacco and cigarettes. Tobacco companies were also unhappy. In February last year, a newly elected coalition government formally repealed the ban.

How do India's young fare on tobacco use?

India's National Tobacco Control Programme has not published data after 2019. Per its last available figures from that year, 8.5% of Indian students used tobacco in some form. The highest instances were in Arunachal Pradesh and Mizoram (57.9%), while the lowest were in Himachal Pradesh (1.1%) and Karnataka (1.2%).

In India, 3,600 people die of tobacco use every day. In 2022, the ministry of health and family welfare said instances of lung cancer had grown 5.2% between 2020 and 2022 to nearly 100,000.

What laws does India have on tobacco and e-cigarettes?

India banned all forms of e–cigarettes and vapes in 2019 for everyone, including foreigners visiting the country. Besides this, smoking in public places is banned in India, as is the sale of any tobacco products within 100 yards of any educational institution.

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Cigarette and tobacco products must carry warnings and graphic depiction of cancer on their packaging. But, these laws are poorly enforced, and a thriving grey market exists for vapes, e-cigarettes, and smuggled cigarettes and tobacco products without any standard warnings.

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