Do smoking bans work?
Since 2007 there have been moves towards stricter regulations on smoking in public spaces across the world. But have any of these had noticeable health impacts? Sally Howard and Geetanjali Krishna report The UK’s Tobacco and Vapes Bill is currently making its way through the House of Commons. It will—if passed—further restrict smoking in outdoor public spaces. Smoking in indoor public spaces has been banned since 2006. The bill also goes a step further, however, prohibiting the sale of tobacco to anyone born after January 2009. If the bill is passed, it will be one of the strictest anti-smoking regulations in the world—and the first to ban smoking for younger generations. In 2022 New Zealand nearly enacted a similar “generation ban” which would have introduced a steadily rising legal smoking age to stop those born after January 2009 from being able to buy cigarettes legally. New Zealand’s bill was to be implemented from July 2024, but was scrapped in November 2023 after the government
