Calls for France to follow UK with generational tobacco ban

Yahoo

3 days ago

France recently banned single-use vapes and nicotine pouches as part of its plan to foster a tobacco-free generation. But, as the world marks the annual World No Tobacco Day on Saturday, a group of public health advocates and MPs want to go further – by introducing a generational tobacco ban similar to the UK's.
Smoking is no longer as fashionable in France as it was in the days of Serge Gainsbourg chain-smoking Gitanes on TV. Yet it remains the country's leading cause of preventable death, killing around 75,000 people a year.
It is also linked to heart disease, strokes, type 2 diabetes, asthma, dementia and fertility issues.
Over the past 30 years, France has cracked down on smoking – banning advertising of tobacco products in 1991, smoking in public places in 2007 and sales to under-18s in 2009, and introducing plain packaging in 2017.
These efforts have paid off. According to the French Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction (OFDT), the number of regular smokers fell from 40 percent of adults in the mid-2010s to 23 percent in 2023 – although this is still above the EU average.
France becomes second European country to ban disposable e-cigarettes
Vaping, however, is on the rise, especially among teens, with around 6 percent using e-cigarettes daily.
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