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Australian state of Tasmania to proceed with plans for 'smoke-free generation'

Xinhua, July 6, 2016 Adjust font size:

The Australian state of Tasmania will proceed with ground-breaking legislation to establish a tobacco-free generation, after receiving approval from the parliamentary committee who were investigating the new law.

The Tasmanian legislative body, which was formed to inquire into the Public Health Amendment (Tobacco Free Generation) Bill 2014, released its final report on Wednesday and found there were no legal reasons why Tasmania couldn't forge ahead with its pioneering legislation.

The Bill would result in a law banning tobacco sales to people born after January 1, 2000. This means the generation of Tasmanians aged 16 and under will not have legal access to tobacco products.

And despite the report highlighting risks such as potential legal action by tobacco manufacturers, age discrimination and accidental breaches by tourists, the committee gave Tasmania a green light for its proposal to establish Australia's, and the world's, first smoke-free generation.

"Although there are a range of issues that have been identified by the committee in relation to the bill ... there does not appear to be any significant legal impediment to the operation of the bill," committee chairman Craig Farrell wrote in the report on Wednesday.

Professor E Haydn Walters and PhD student, Kathryn Barnsley, from the University of Tasmania, published an article in 2015 on the tobacco-free generation in the Medical Journal of Australia, where they believed The Tasmanian Public Health Amendment Bill would be vital to improving the health in Tasmania.

"Tasmania's smoking rates are considerably higher than the national figures, reflecting the state's low socioeconomic status and historic lack of investment in evidence-based tobacco control strategies," Walters and Barnsley wrote in the Medical Journal of Australia article.

"Currently in Tasmania around 40% of younger men smoke. Male smoking rates have not fallen significantly for 10 years, and are 50% greater than nationally, " they wrote in 2015.

According to the report, the notion of a Tobacco Free Generation has gained further international support with Dr Margaret Chan, Director-General of the World Health Organization, approving the legislation. Endit