The UK recently banned smoking for life for young people. Should Canada do the same? – Nationally
The UK Parliament has passed a bill that will permanently ban the sale of tobacco products, including cigarettes, to anyone born on Jan. 1, 2009 or later.
The Tobacco and Vapes Bill was passed by the House of Commons and the House of Lords on Monday in an effort to create a “smoke-free generation.”
“This landmark legislation will save thousands of lives and protect the NHS. By building a healthy community, we will help build a healthy economy, with fewer people out of work.”
This law was awaiting approval by King Charles III at the time of publication.
What is the Tobacco and Vapes bill?
The Tobacco and Vapes Bill is expected to give British ministers the power to strengthen the existing ban on smoking in public places, children’s playgrounds, and outside schools and hospitals for those over the legal age.
Vaping will also be banned in cars carrying children, in playgrounds, outside schools and inside hospitals. However, vaping will still be allowed outside of hospitals to help those trying to quit.
People will also be able to continue smoking inside their homes when they are over the age of majority.
The British government has also made single-use vapes illegal from 1 June 2025, which applies to all retailers, manufacturers, wholesalers, importers and health care settings as well as “smoking cessation” settings.
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The press release defines a disposable vape as one that has a “non-rechargeable battery” and is “non-refillable.”
A study by the University of Nottingham in February said that a non-smoking generation “has the potential to significantly reduce the number of smokers” and “gain hundreds of thousands of years of healthy life.”
The study also found that “the vaccine could bring about 88,000 additional healthy life years compared to the new law” by 2075.
It also added that smoking prevalence among 12- to 30-year-olds could drop below five percent by the late 2040s, decades earlier than expected without the policy.
The UK is not the first country to push forward with a similar ban, with New Zealand imposing a lifetime ban on youth tobacco purchases in December 2022.
The law states that cigarettes cannot be sold to anyone born on Jan. 1, 2009, and reduced the number of vendors allowed to sell cigarettes from 6,000 to 600.
The government had a target of less than five per cent of New Zealand adults smoking, which was agreed in 2018.
Should Canada follow?
Although Gen Z Canadians drink less than older generations, they use more nicotine products such as vaping, cigarettes, traditional tobacco and products such as chewing tobacco.
This age group had the highest daily use of nicotine products (7.3 percent) of any age group, according to an insurance industry report earlier this year.
In all other age groups, only five to six percent said they used nicotine daily.
In Canada, the Tobacco and Vaping Products Act “regulates the manufacture, sale, labeling and promotion of tobacco products and vaping products sold in Canada.”
The act includes the goal of “protecting the health of young people and those who do not use tobacco products from exposure to and dependence on nicotine that can result from the use of vaping products” and “protecting the health of young people by limiting access to vaping products.”
Canada also became the first country in the world by May 2023 to require health warnings to be printed directly on every single cigarette, with specific warnings that:
- “Cigarette smoke harms children”
- “Tobacco causes leukemia”
- “Poison in every spray”
Health Canada said in its news release that the goal of the labels is to make it “almost impossible” for smokers to avoid the warnings.
However, there is no indication at this time of plans for a similar ban on sales to those under a certain age in Canada.
A Health Canada spokesperson said in an emailed statement to Global News that “the Canadian government is committed to reducing tobacco use in Canada to less than five percent by 2035, a goal that is globally recognized as a milestone for a smoke-free future.”
“The Government of Canada is working with partners and key stakeholders to protect Canadians, especially youth, from the harms of smoking using the best information available,” the spokesperson said.
Sarah Butson, CEO of the Canadian Lung Association, believes that “the easiest point of comparison between Canada and the UK should be the enthusiasm for bold action.”
“We know that we have to deal with the youth nicotine problem we have at the same time as developing ways to ensure that the progress we have made on tobacco remains,” he said.
However, Butson noted that “knowledge is power, but knowledge only goes so far.”
“It’s really about a broad range of options around education, about strong policy processes that protect young people but also protect ex-smokers who don’t want to start again,” she said.
“I think there are always gaps that need to be filled in policy work. We’ve never found it completely perfect,” said Butson. “But I think that striving to do good is a goal in itself, and we shouldn’t be afraid to take some of those steps in a way that we know will protect young people.”
© 2026 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.
