In France, a member of parliament introduces a cross-party bill for a tobacco-free generation.

On November 4, 2025, Green Party MP Nicolas Thierry (Gironde) presented a cross-party bill aimed at banning the sale of tobacco to people born on or after January 1st.^er January 2014. This measure, championed by the Alliance Against Tobacco (ACT) and supported by its members, notably the National Committee Against Smoking (CNCT) and the League Against Cancer, is part of a plan for an effective and progressive ban on tobacco for all people reaching the age of majority from 2032 onwards.[1].

An ambitious health, economic and environmental objective and a popular measure

The initiative, which targets all forms of tobacco, including heated tobacco, is based on a survey conducted in November 2024 by the BVA polling institute, among a nationally representative sample of 1,000 people aged 15 and over, residing in metropolitan France[2]According to this poll, 70% of French people support a gradual ban on sales, with even stronger support among younger people (79% of 15-24 year olds). The poll also reports that, in general, 78% of French people have a negative opinion of tobacco use, a figure that rises to 91% among non-smokers. Around twenty members of parliament from seven different political groups, ranging from La France Insoumise (LFI) to Horizons, support the proposed legislation.

In addition to public and political support, the MP justifies his approach by the continued strong health impact of tobacco. While the implementation of measures such as plain cigarette packaging, increased tobacco prices, and smoke-free zones has helped to reduce the daily smoking prevalence rate, which fell from 23.1% among adults aged 18-75 in 2023 to 18.2% in 2024, smoking remains, according to the MP, a " epidemic and a scourge which causes 75,000 premature and preventable deaths annually in France. Furthermore, the tobacco industry is particularly aggressive and constantly diversifies with new products, such as nicotine sachets, to make teenagers addicted to nicotine and retain them in the long term. even though these products are normally prohibited from sale.

This cost is also environmental: 23 billion cigarette butts are discarded each year, contributing approximately 5.1 trillion tons to global deforestation. Smoking also incurs a financial cost for countries in terms of public budgets and, more broadly, a social cost estimated in France at €156 billion per year by the OFDT (French Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction).[3].

According to him, the generational ban aims to raise young people in an environment where tobacco is no longer perceived as an ordinary product and is not present in the collective imagination. This ban is therefore fully in line with a perspective of influencing the social and cultural norms surrounding its consumption.

Its implementation is possible provided that the tobacco industry lobby is combated.

Faced with criticisms disseminated by the tobacco lobby such as the risk of a black market or cross-border activity, age discrimination or an infringement on the freedom to conduct business, Nicolas Thierry emphasizes that the project is based on the constitutional principle of health protection: the constitutional judge has already recognized the possibility of giving precedence to the right to health protection over the freedom to conduct business, that is to say the marketing of a product, in this case tobacco.

According to the MP, implementing the law will nevertheless require increased controls and fines for tobacconists, who, as intermediaries for the tobacco industry, represent the primary obstacle to the adoption of public policies. They are regularly criticized for failing to enforce the ban on selling tobacco products to minors. The gradual implementation of such a measure by 2032 will allow for adaptation without major disruption, supporting the economic transition of tobacconists while requiring them to comply with a structural legal and social change they cannot ignore.

Despite an uncertain political context, the MP hopes to include this proposal in the public debate and use it as leverage to pave the way for a tobacco-free generation.

This generational ban on tobacco aims to extend the public health policies carried out for several years in France, within the framework of the "National Tobacco Control Program 2023-2027", and in line with the objective set by the European Union of reaching less than 5% adult tobacco prevalence within the European Union by 2040.

This measure is not only being discussed in France. It was initially proposed by New Zealand, which had significantly reduced smoking prevalence in the country, and also by the United Kingdom, where the legislation is currently being adopted. In the Maldives, a similar law has been passed and has just come into effect. The tobacco industry's opposition to this measure is fierce, and the case of New Zealand illustrates this: the Minister of Health, from a conservative coalition that came to power in 2023 is accused of collusion with the tobacco industry and has succeeded in abolishing the measure.

©Generation Without Tobacco

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[1]Apolline Le Romanser, "Fighting the spiral of addiction": a proposed law to ban the sale of tobacco from the 2014 generation onwardsLibération, published on November 4, 2025, accessed the same day

[2]Tobacco-free generation, 70% of French people support the gradual cessation of tobacco sales to younger generations.Published on February 10, 2025, accessed on November 4, 2025

[3]AFP, A proposed law aims to create the first tobacco-free generationFrance 24, published on November 4, 2025, accessed the same day

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