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Denmark considers permanent ban on cigarette sales for people born after 2010

The Local Denmark
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Denmark considers permanent ban on cigarette sales for people born after 2010
Denmark could enact a preemptive, permanent ban on cigarette sales for people born after 2010. Photo by Pawel Czerwinski on Unsplash

Denmark’s government is considering a historic law change which could see the sale of cigarettes permanently banned in the Nordic country for people born after 2010.

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The government is considering a law change which would prevent anyone currently aged 12 or under from ever buying cigarettes in Denmark.

People under 18 are not legally allowed to purchase cigarettes under current Danish laws, so although the ban would not have an effect for six years, it would prevent people born after 2010 from ever buying cigarettes, political media Altinget reports.

The law change could be included in an upcoming political reform package for the health sector. The government is at an advanced stage of considerations to include the proposal in its reforms, the media writes.

“This would put Denmark in a supreme first place in tobacco prevention globally. Smoking is so dangerous that it is necessary for politicians to ensure a future in which no one smokes,” Morten Grønbæk, director of the National Institute of Public Health, told Altinget.

Any proposal to implement the future ban would need parliamentary backing for a bill tabled by the minority government.

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“Smoking is one of the biggest causes of inequality in society. So this would be a good lever,” Peder Hvelplund, health spokesperson with the left wing party Red Green Alliance, told newspaper BT.

“We know that the tobacco industry conducts overly aggressive campaigns aimed at young people, where they are tempted with a range of different nicotine products that lead, in the end, to smoking. This would be an attempt to put the brakes on that completely,” he said.

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