A new bill by New Zealand is banning children from smoking as the world watches in shock.
According to reports from local media outlets, many people were shocked beyond belief when the country laid out a new law that bans children born after 2009 from smoking legally.
The country’s new law states that tobacco can not be sold to those born on or after 2009. And that means the minimum age for purchasing cigarettes will keep on going up and up.
In theory, anyone purchasing cigarettes at 50 years would need to be 63 years old, sources mentioned.
The new law is undoubtedly radical and it’s being done to make the nation smoke-free.
This is also outlined to be the first law of its kind to take center stage in the world which is indirectly increasing the annual age for smoking too.
Moreover, this minimum age would be for purchasing cigarettes will continue to keep increasing. In theory, you can see it as someone trying to purchase a pack of cigarettes, 50 years from now. You would also need to show an ID that would show that it was at least 63 years of age.
Meanwhile, authorities linked to the health department claim smoking is going to fade away with time, well before then. They have even gone on to highlight a goal of making New Zealand smoke-free by the year 2025.
In the same way, this new law is also reducing the number of retailers out there today who are given permits for selling tobacco from around 6,000 to 600, and that decreases the amount of nicotine that’s allowed in tobacco that is smoked.
“There is simply no good reason to allow for the sales of such a product that kills half the people that consume it”- the country’s associate minister for health explained.