Maldives just made it illegal for some generations to smoke
By Jessie Yeung, CNN
(CNN) — The Maldives has become the first country to impose a generational smoking ban – making smoking, buying and selling tobacco illegal for anyone born after January 1, 2007.
The ban took effect on Saturday in the South Asian archipelago, “marking a historic milestone in the nation’s efforts to protect public health and promote a tobacco-free generation,” said the country’s Ministry of Health.
This measure “makes the Maldives the first country in the world to enforce a nationwide generational tobacco ban,” it added.
Smoking causes more than seven million deaths globally each year, according to the World Health Organization. As of 2021, more than a quarter of the Maldives’ adult population (aged 15 to 69) used tobacco, according to a national survey. That rate was almost double for young teens aged 13 to 15.
By comparison, close to 20% of adults in the United States used tobacco in 2022, and almost 12% of adults in the United Kingdom were smokers in 2023.
Though the Maldives is the first country to enact such a ban, similar proposals have been debated – and nearly imposed – in other parts of the world.
New Zealand came close to imposing something similar in 2022, when the government passed a world-leading smoking ban that would have prohibited the sale of tobacco to anyone born after January 1, 2009.
But the ban, which was supposed to go into effect in 2024, never came to fruition. Just a year after the bill was passed, it was rolled back to help pay for tax cuts – infuriating public health officials and anti-tobacco groups.
Similar bills were proposed in Britain in recent years but failed to pass; a new version is now making its way through parliament. The bill would ban tobacco for anyone born after January 1, 2009, and strengthen regulations on the sale of tobacco and vaping products.
A number of British health leaders signed an open letter last week calling for the bill’s passage, and decrying delays in the process so far. In the six months since the bill’s last debate in parliament, more than 120,000 young adults have started smoking, claimed the letter, signed by the leaders of major hospitals, cancer charities, and branches of the National Health Service (NHS).
The Maldives ban is just the latest in the country’s years-long effort to crack down on tobacco and smoking – including electronic cigarettes.
The government banned the import, possession, use, manufacturing and distribution of all vapes in the Maldives in late 2024, regardless of age.
Authorities are now hoping to cut down on smoking everywhere across the archipelago, with plans to set up anti-smoking clinics that will offer medication to help people quit tobacco products.
Earlier this summer, the president even proposed a cash reward for residents on any island that completely eliminates smoking.
The-CNN-Wire
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