London:

British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak is considering introducing measures that would ban the next generation from ever being able to buy cigarettes, The Guardian reported on Friday, citing government sources. Sunak is looking at anti-smoking measures similar to laws New Zealand announced last year, which include a ban on selling tobacco to anyone born on or after Jan. 1, 2009, the report said.

“We want to encourage more people to quit and meet our ambition to be smokefree by 2030, which is why we have already taken steps to reduce smoking rates,” a British government spokesperson said in an emailed response to Reuters.

Those measures include free vape kits, a voucher scheme to incentivise pregnant women to quit, and consulting on mandatory cigarette pack inserts, the spokesperson added.

The spokesperson declined to comment further on The Guardian report.

The policies under consideration are part of a new consumer-focused drive from Sunak’s team before next year’s expected election, the report said.

Britain in May announced it would close a loophole that let retailers give free samples of vapes to children in a clampdown on e-cigarettes.

Separately, councils in England and Wales in July called on the government to ban the sale of single-use vapes by 2024 on both environmental and health grounds.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Bengaluru:

To tackle the threat of young people getting addicted to tobacco, the Karnataka government is planning to ban hookah bars and increase the minimum age for purchasing tobacco products to 21.

Health Minister Dinesh Gundu Rao said the government plans to amend the Cigarettes and Other Tobacco Products Act to bring about these changes. 

After a meeting with health department officials on Tuesday, the minister said that, apart from schools, the sale and consumption of tobacco products is banned around temples, mosques, childcare centres and hospitals as well. 

Mr Rao said the steps are being planned as youngsters are increasingly getting attracted to hookah bars, which has a negative impact on their health. The state government will also increase the minimum age for purchasing tobacco products from 18 to 21 years, he added.

“We have discussed bringing in amendments to the Act…We have discussed issuing a government order in this regard in the days to come. The wording and legal aspects will be discussed and decided,” news agency PTI quoted the minister as saying. 

Expressing concern over the future of many young people being put at risk because of their addiction to drugs, Mr Rao said the state has taken a firm decision to root out illegal activities.

Pointing out that addiction to tobacco products like cigarettes often leads to drug and substance abuse. “Tobacco use laid the foundation for all this and so we have started to correct it at the source,” he said, adding that local organisations and the police department will be roped in to help implement and enforce the amendments.