Smoking bans: these countries are tackling tobacco use

• Governments are introducing smoking bans and restrictions on tobacco sales to address health concerns. Smoking remains one of the gravest public health threats, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).Countries including Portugal, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and Mexico want to raise a ‘smoke-free’ generation.New laws also include vaping products.

On 29 March 2004, the Republic of Ireland started a global chain reaction. It was the day Ireland became the first country in the world to put an end to all indoor smoking in workplaces. The law was met with both praise and outrage – the latter mainly because it covered not just offices, but restaurants and entertainment venues. Since then, patrons smoking on pavements outside pubs, clubs and restaurants have become a common sight. And not just in Ireland. The country’s trailblazing initiative sparked a wave of similar policies around the globe. According to the WHO, tobacco use kills more than 8 million people a year. Of these deaths, 1.2 million are people who have been exposed to second-hand smoke. This is smoke emitted from a cigarette or another tobacco product or exhaled by a smoker. The WHO describes tobacco use as “one of the biggest public health threats the world has ever faced”. Smoking is widely seen as a risk factor for conditions that can be fatal, such as lung cancer, heart disease and stroke.

In May, the Portuguese government announced draft legislation to restrict sales of tobacco and smoking in outdoor public spaces from autumn 2023. If passed, the act would ban smoking outside bars, restaurants and cafes, as well as public facilities such as universities, schools and sports venues. From 2025, the law would also restrict sales of tobacco products to licensed tobacconists and airport shops. This would mean bars, cafes, restaurants and petrol stations can no longer sell tobacco products.

The ban would also extend to vaping and would restrict the promotion of tobacco to discourage young people from sliding into dependency. The goal for the Portuguese government is achieving a “smoke-free generation” by 2040.

Canada: a warning on each cigarette

Canada aims to achieve a similar goal, reducing tobacco use to less than 5% by 2035. To achieve this, the Canadian government will soon be raising the bar on the visibility of warning messages about the health risks of smoking. Warning labels on cigarette packaging have been mandatory in Canada since the late 1980s – considerably later than the US and the UK, where the measure was introduced in 1965 and 1971 respectively. However, the federal health department, Health Canada, is going a step further by printing warning messages directly on the filter paper of cigarettes and similar products.

Also pushing for a smoke-free nation by 2025, New Zealand has introduced new laws banning the sale of tobacco to people born from 2009 onwards to curb youth tobacco addiction. It has recently announced measures to reduce sales of vaping products near schools. There will also be cuts to the amount of nicotine permitted in tobacco products and the number of retailers allowed to sell them. Meanwhile, Australia’s largest state, Queensland, has embarked on a campaign to create smoke-free public places, including school car parks and at events for children and under-18s. Queensland’s government will also launch an enquiry to establish tighter regulation for e-cigarettes and vaping.

Smoking is not only the bane of the developed world. According to the WHO, more than 80% of tobacco users live in low- and middle-income countries. Earlier this year, Mexico – which the World Bank considers an upper-middle-income country – introduced one of the strictest anti-tobacco laws in the world. The government extended an existing ban on smoking in hospitality and workplace settings to include all public spaces – including parks and beaches, for example. If enforced stringently, this will effectively limit smoking to private homes alone. In addition, tobacco promotion is now entirely banned, so cigarettes may not even be on show in-store any more.

Initiatives across the world to curb the health impacts of smoking and raise the next generation as non-smokers come at a time when economies are re-evaluating their healthcare systems. According to the World Economic Forum’s Global Health and Healthcare Strategic Outlook 2023, the disruptions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic and their socioeconomic, environmental and geopolitical impacts still loom large. At the same time as overcoming these challenges, governments also need to ensure that their health systems are set up for the future. The report sets out a roadmap for how countries can achieve better health