British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak on Wednesday suggested that the younger generation should buy cigarettes. If this measure is adopted, Great Britain will be among the countries that have adopted some of the strictest anti-smoking laws in the world, according to Reuters.

If the proposal is passed by the London legislature, Britain would also become the first European country to ban the sale of cigarettes to young people, although Denmark has said it is considering a similar move.

“One [tânăr] today’s 14-year-old girl will never be legally sold cigarettes,” Sunak told his Conservative Party conference before the bill was officially introduced.

The British Prime Minister explained that the plan involves raising the age at which people can legally buy cigarettes by one year each year, with the ultimate goal of the younger generation “growing up smoke-free.”

Sunak also announced plans to introduce measures to limit the sale of e-cigarettes to youth.

He said the government he leads should hold a consultation on limiting flavorings and advertising for e-cigarettes so they are no longer targeted at young people. Other measures will also focus on the packaging and presentation of e-cigarettes.

The UK is joining New Zealand and Canada in aggressively cracking down on smoking

Sunak’s proposed ban on the sale of cigarettes to the younger generation is similar to the one New Zealand passed last December.

The draft, first proposed by the government in Wellington in April 2021 and adopted after a year-and-a-half of consultation, involves phasing in an indefinite ban on anyone born after January 1, 2009, from buying cigarettes.

The law came into effect in New Zealand this year, but it won’t take effect until 2027, when people born in 2009 come of age.

As for Britain, Rishi Sunak said on Wednesday that smoking costs the country’s public health service £17 billion every year and that cancer rates could be cut by a quarter if people quit smoking.

Canada, another British Commonwealth country, this month became the first country in the world to pass a law requiring tobacco manufacturers to print a warning about the dangers of smoking on every pack of cigarettes.

The new rules came into effect on August 1 and will be gradually implemented until the end of April 2025. In 2021, Canada became the first country in the world to require tobacco manufacturers to include graphic warnings about the dangers of smoking on cigarette packs.