Finland Moves to Ban Smoking Entirely

(Jan. 15) -- Soon anyone wanting to sell cigarettes in Finland will have to hide them under the counter. A ban on public display is one of several laws, including phasing out cigarette vending machines and banning smoking in cars with children, that the Finnish government hopes will lead to the end of smoking altogether in Finland, the BBC reports.

Finland has been legislating against tobacco since 1976, when a rise in cardiovascular disease prompted a ban on cigarette advertising. They banned smoking in indoor public areas and workplaces in 1995, and in restaurants in 2007.

"We will get rid of smoking once and for all in Finland," State Secretary Ilkka Oksala told the BBC. "We think this is not against tobacco interests; we think this is in favor of people's health."

The tobacco industry has already issued a formal complaint and made the argument that smoking was a matter of personal responsibility.

"People are well aware of the fact that this is a harmful product. I think at the end of the day if they know that and they're not bothering other people with their smoke ... then I think the decision is theirs to make," Philip Morris representative Anne Edwards told the BBC.

She also argued that since the ban would apply to new tobacco products, the laws would deny older Finnish smokers access to any future, healthier products.

Finland's low smoking rates may make this sort of legislation easier to pass; as few as 20 percent of adult Finns smoke. Oksala is not concerned with antagonizing tobacco interests, he told the BBC.

"Of course, this would mean the end of the tobacco industry if all the countries in the world took the same kind of steps as we are," he said. "We have had negotiations with that industry, naturally, but to be quite honest, our goal is against their business."