Tag: Tobacco endgame

Rumors of U.K. Dropping Generational Tobacco Ban

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The U.K. government may be backtracking on its plans to implement a generational tobacco ban, reports Tobacco Insider. According to the website, Britain may settle instead for raising the legal smoking age from 18 to 21.
Under the proposed legislation, children who turn 14 or younger in 2023 would never be able to legally purchase a cigarette. A public consultation on the plans closed Dec. 6.
Tobacco companies have reportedly been engaging heavily with lawmakers. Earlier this month, Philip Morris International held roundtable events with members of parliament as part of its efforts to ensure that heated-tobacco products are exempt from any future smoking ban.
BAT was reportedly also scheduled to hold a private event on the plans to phase out smoking.
Many libertarian Members of Parliament are said to dislike the idea of government limiting people’s choices.
In November, New Zealand and Malaysia scrapped plans for similar generational tobacco bans.
December 7, 2023
UK Prime Minister has Tobacco Endgame Plan

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The U.K. prime minister, Rishi Sunak, wants to raise the legal age for consuming cigarettes, gradually increasing it one year at a time until the next generation is no longer legally allowed to purchase the products, reports Bloomberg.
According to Sunak, the move would make it so that “a 14-year-old today would never legally be sold a cigarette.” Sunak spoke on the age increase at a Conservative Party conference in Manchester Wednesday, where plans to restrict availability of vapes and look at packaging and flavors of vapor products were also discussed.
Simon Clark, director of smokers’ rights group Forest, responded to the move, saying, “These are desperate measures by a desperate prime minister.
“Raising the age of sale of tobacco is creeping prohibition, but it won’t stop young people smoking because prohibition doesn’t work. Anyone who wants to smoke will buy tobacco abroad or from illicit sources.
“This is the opposite of leveling up; it’s dumbing down. Future generations of adults who are considered old enough to vote, pay taxes, drive a car and drink alcohol are going to be treated like children and denied the right to buy a product that can be purchased legally by people a year older than them.
“This is now a conservative government in name only because the prime minister has just taken a wrecking ball to the principles of choice and personal responsibility,” Clark said.
October 4, 2023
Hong Kong Begins Consultation on Generational Ban
Junk boat in Victoria Harbor, Hong Kong (Credit: Kamonrat)
Hong Kong has started a public health consultation held that includes a proposal for a generational ban on vaping and other tobacco products. Generational Bans are often referred to as “tobacco endgame” strategies.
Last year, Hong Kong’s Council on Smoking and Health proposed a generational ban to begin in 2027 that would outlaw vaping and other tobacco product sales to anyone born from 2009.
The public consultation consists of a nationwide survey which started last Wednesday and ends on September 30th.
Health minister Lo Chung-Mau said that the consultation is based on four anti-smoking strategies, among which a lifetime ban on cigarettes for locals born after a set date.
Hong Kong’s government has set a goal of reducing the percentage of adults who smoke from 9.5 percent in 2021 to 7.8 percent by 2025. To do so, it is exploring four strategies:

Regulate Supply, Suppress Demand
Ban Promotion, Reduce Attractiveness
Expand No Smoking Areas, Mitigate Harm,
Enhance Education, Support Cessation
The first two strategies mentioned for reducing tobacco use are increasing taxes and introducing new age restrictions.
“With the efforts on education and publicity over the years, the smoking prevalence of youth in Hong Kong has dropped to a low level,” said the document, though the government also believes that increasing the minimum age to purchase tobacco from its current requirement of 18-years-old to 21-years-old wouldn’t be effective, according to media reports. So instead, it’s considering what’s known as a generational tobacco ban.
New Zealand passed a generational ban late last year and recent efforts have been made to introduce additional bans in other countries, including bills in California, Hawaii and Nevada. Malaysia is also considering a generational ban.
The generational ban is just one of a litany of strategies mentioned in the document. Other regulations being considered include plain packaging, restrictions on retailers displaying products, nicotine limits and higher tobacco taxes.
July 31, 2023
Malaysia Ready to Table New Tobacco Endgame Bill

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Malaysia’s Ministry of Health is ready to table the Control of Smoking Product for Public Health Bill, which includes the Generational Endgame (GEG) policy, reports the New Straits Times.
If enacted, the legislation would prohibit anyone born in 2007 or later from buying and using cigarettes or vaping products in Malaysia. A provision to ban possession of those products has been dropped from the bill on the recommendation of the Parliamentary Special Select Committee.
The bill also governs registration, advertising, promotion and sponsorship, packaging and sales of smoking products.
“Any violation, including selling of cigarettes to children in the GEG group will be an offence when the bill is passed,” said the health minister’s special adviser, Helmy Haja Mydin.
People in the targeted age group caught buying or using tobacco or vaper product risk fines of MYR500 and community service. The fines had been reduced from a previous proposal to avoid unduly burdening the GEG group.
According to Mydin, the order is meant to educate and show that the policy is not purely punitive.
After its enactment, the bill requires periodic reports to measure the legislation’s effectiveness in combating underage smoking.
May 23, 2023
California Lawmakers Shelve Tobacco ‘Endgame’ Bill

Credit: Peter Gonzalez
Three years ago, advocates for reducing smoking and vaping in California won a major victory when they persuaded the state Legislature to adopt a ban on the sale of flavored tobacco products despite an intense industry lobbying campaign.
But in recent months, those same groups have been largely silent as a first-term lawmaker sought to phase out tobacco sales in the state altogether. His proposal was shelved this week without even receiving a hearing, and he will instead pursue a bill this session to strengthen enforcement of the flavored tobacco ban, according to Jefferson Public Radio.
The decision by major anti-tobacco organizations to sit out another legislative fight reflects a broader disagreement among advocates about the best way to reach what they call the “endgame” of a tobacco-free future — and whether that should be their primary goal. Concerns over public backlash, political feasibility and potential cuts to programs funded by tobacco taxes are all factors.
“All these groups have the same goal,” to eliminate the deaths and disease caused by tobacco, said Chris Bostic, policy director for Action on Smoking and Health, one of only a handful of anti-tobacco groups to endorse the sales phaseout bill. “But people have varying opinions of how to get from here to there.”
Assembly Bill 935, introduced in February by Assemblymember Damon Connolly of San Rafael, would have taken the bold step of banning the sale of tobacco products, including cigarettes, cigars and vaping e-liquid, to anyone born on or after Jan. 1, 2007.
The legal smoking age in California is 21, so those who would have been affected by the measure aren’t able to buy tobacco from retailers for at least five more years anyway. But the proposal would have had the effect of creating a whole generation of Californians prohibited from ever legally purchasing tobacco products, with the goal of making it more difficult for them to start smoking or vaping.
It’s an idea that remains on the cutting edge globally. New Zealand became the first country to adopt the approach in December, banning the sale of smoked tobacco products such as cigarettes for anyone born after 2008. The Massachusetts town of Brookline passed a more expansive ban on tobacco products, including vapes, in 2020, which faced a legal challenge from retailers and was upheld in court last year.
Lawmakers in Hawaii and Nevada also introduced sales phaseout proposals this year, but neither measure has received a hearing yet either.
April 15, 2023
Hawaii Lawmakers Propose Tobacco ‘Endgame’ Bill

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Generational bans on vaping and other tobacco products are becoming more popular with lawmakers.
A new bill introduced in the Hawaii Senate would make it illegal for anyone born after 2002 to possess, purchase or use tobacco or vaping products.
S.B. 148 would change the state’s tobacco rules to deny anyone born after to Jan. 1, 2003, from purchasing and consuming these products.
The rules would only apply while in Hawaii, meaning out-of-state visitors would need to comply with Hawaii’s laws, though Hawaii residents would not be subject to the laws while visiting other states, reports Halfwheel.
Those caught selling or providing tobacco or vaping products would be subject to the existing fine structure for selling to those under 21: $500 for a first offense, and $500-$2,000 for any offense after that.
In addition, anyone born after 2002 caught violating the law as a consumer would be subject to a $10 fine for the first offense, a $50 fine for a subsequent offense, or the option to do between 48-72 hours of community service.
If passed, the change would take effect on Jan. 1, 2024. S.B. 148 currently has six sponsors.
The concept was introduced in New Zealand in 2021 and was approved by that country’s government late last year. It has also been proposed in Malaysia.
Since then similar proposals have been introduced in California, Hawaii and Nevada, though none have been passed.
In 2015, Hawaii became the first to increase the minimum age to purchase tobacco products to 21 years old, which has since become the federal standard.
In 2019, Hawaiian lawmakers proposed a bill that would slowly increase the age to purchase tobacco products starting with raising the minimum age for buying cigarettes from 21 to 30 in 2020.
By 2022, no one under 50 would have been able to buy cigarettes.
March 16, 2023
New Bill Proposes Combustible ‘Endgame’ in Nevada

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A new bill in the U.S. state of Nevada seeks to end all combustible cigarette sales in the state by 2030 and would also include flavored e-cigarettes.
The bill would ban all e-cigarettes that are flavored to taste like something other than tobacco, but spares most other non-combustible tobacco products.
Assemblyman David Orentlicher has introduced A.B. 294, which would make several changes to how combustible tobacco products other than premium cigars are sold in the state, essentially outlawing their sale by 2030, reports Charlie Minato of Halfwheel.
Among other things, the bill would bar the Nevada Department of Taxation from issuing any license to any vending machine operator, manufacturer or wholesale dealer of combustible cigarette products on or after Jan. 1, 2029.
The licenses are only valid in the calendar year they are issued, meaning there would be no licensed wholesale dealers beginning on Jan. 1, 2030.
It would also make it illegal to sell combustible tobacco products to anyone born on or after Dec. 31, 2002.
March 15, 2023
Malaysia Lawmakers Urged to Reassess ‘Endgame’ Bill

The Malaysian Society for Harm Reduction (MSHR) has called on the Malaysian government to reassess the generational endgame (GEG) measure regarding vaping, reports the New Straits Times.
Sharifa Ezat Wan Puteh, MSHR chairman, stated that many smokers are using vaping to quit smoking cigarettes and that the GEG could be counterproductive as it positions vaping as equally harmful as smoking.
“While vaping has health risks, we cannot ignore scientific evidence that vaping is at least 95 percent less harmful than smoking,” said Puteh. “Several reputable public health organizations have made that estimate and endorsed by multiple developed countries. In addition, vape is also recognized as an effective tool to reduce smoking hazards and rates.”
The MSHR has suggested that vaping be regulated and training be provided to vendors on proper ways to switch to nicotine-replacement therapies and vapor products. It also suggests forming an independent committee driven by science and evidence to conduct in-depth research on vapor products.
“If we look at the decline in the smoking rates in countries with higher vaping rates, it speeds up as the vaping rate increase[s],” said Puteh.
“Legislative process for the new bill will take a lengthy time,” she said. “In addition, a bill should only be tabled with detailed discussion and studies on the proposed GEG measure that the previous minister proposed.
“Given this, we believe the government should take immediate steps to regulate vape products using existing laws to speed up regulations on the products to protect consumers from prohibited ingredients by introducing standards on the product as well as prohibiting access by minors.”
March 8, 2023
California Lawmaker Brings Tobacco ‘Endgame’ Bill

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A California legislator has introduced a bill to ban vaping and other tobacco products from being purchased by anyone born after January 1, 2007. If enacted, it would mean that eventually no one in California would be legally allowed to buy any form of tobacco product, including cigars, snus and vapes.
Assembly Bill 935, a phased ban introduced on February 14 by assembly member Damon Connolly, would mean that anyone in California who is presently 16 years old or younger could never legally buy a tobacco product in that state. Penalties would be up to $6,000 for repeat offenders and include a tobacco license loss, reports Davis Savona of Cigar Aficionado.
Connolly, an attorney, has also served as Vice-Mayor of San Rafael, among other positions.
There is precedent for such legislation, but not in the United States. This move would mimic a New Zealand law that has banned tobacco sales to anyone born in or after 2009.
February 16, 2023
New Zealand Passes Combustible Tobacco Endgame

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The New Zealand Parliament today adopted the Smokefree Environments and Regulated Products (Smoked Tobacco) Amendment Bill, which is expected to phase out combustible tobacco product use in the country.
“Today, history was made for public health and for the generations of families who have lost loved ones to the preventable diseases caused by ordinary tobacco use,” said Action on Smoking and Health (ASH) Executive Director Laurent Huber. “New Zealand has single-handedly changed the course of what is possible in tobacco regulations and we stand ready to help other jurisdictions follow their groundbreaking lead.”
The concept, called “Smoke-Free Generation” (SFG), can also be characterized as a sales ban with a grandfather clause for existing adults who smoke, according to a press release.
New Zealand will be only the third government to pass such a law, following Balanga City in the Philippines – which has been unable to implement the law due to litigation – and Brookline, Massachusetts, which implemented a similar law (tobacco-free generation) in January 2021 and successfully defended an industry lawsuit in October 2022.
Unlike New Zealand, Balanga City and Brookline banned sales to anyone born this century, and included all tobacco products (including e-cigarettes and snus), rather than a focus on combustibles.
“It’s important to stress that the Smoke-Free Generation law applies only to sales of combustible tobacco,” stressed Huber from ASH, which has endorsed SFG for years. “The law does not outlaw individual purchase, possession or use – or the act of smoking. The problem here is the tobacco industry, not their victims.”
The second leg of the law is a drastic reduction in the number of retailers – researchers estimate that the final reduction may be as much as 95 percent. Finally, the new law includes reducing nicotine content in cigarettes to below-addictive levels, according to the release.
Hong Kong Health Minister Lo Chung-mau confirmed that banning tobacco sales for future generations will be on the table as a tool to further reduce youth smoking, according to the South China Morning Post. The Malaysian government is also pushing forward a bill that seeks to ban vaping and smoking for those born from 2007, after making amendments following resistance from some lawmakers.
December 13, 2022