Doctors have said the [b]UK[/b] could soon see its first ‘tobacco-free generation’ after backing a radical plan to ban cigarette sales to anyone born in the 21st century. [s]The Independent[/s] reports that under the plan, backed overwhelmingly by members of the [b]British Medical Association (BMA)[/b], children born in 2000 and later would be banned for life from buying tobacco. The vote in favour, put forward by [b]UK Public Health[/b] registrar Dr Tim Crocker-Buque, means that backing a ban is now official BMA policy. The report says, however, that any move to ban cigarette sales for an entire generation would be highly controversial and some doctors warned that the plan was unrealistic and should be dropped in favour of more achievable goals, such as plain packaging for tobacco.
Meanwhile, in the [b]US, White House[/b] changes to proposed rules for tobacco products significantly weakened language detailing health risks from cigars and deleted restrictions that might have prevented online sales of e-cigarettes. [s]Reuters Health[/s] reports that documents show that the [b]White House’s Office of Management and Budget[/b] deleted language in the [b]US Food and Drug Administration's[/b] recently proposed regulations describing how the rules would keep thousands from taking up cigar smoking and have enormous public health benefits. The OMB also weakened language detailing the FDA's concerns about the safety of e-cigarettes. In April, the FDA issued a proposal which would subject the $2bn e-cigarette industry to federal regulation for the first time.
[link url=http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/health-and-families/stub-it-out-doctors-union-backs-lifelong-cigarettes-ban-for-all-children-born-after-2000-9559374.html]Full report in The Independent[/link]
[link url=http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/06/25/us-usa-ecigarettes-whitehouse-idUSKBN0F006O20140625]Full Reuters Health report[/link]