By GIL HOFFMANUpdated: DECEMBER 18, 2018 20:47Smoking(photo credit: INGIMAGE / ASAP)
Israel's most comprehensive anti smoking bill ever is now one step away from becoming law after it passed its final readings in the Knesset Economics Committee Tuesday afternoon.The bill, which is expected to come to a final vote in the Knesset plenum next week, would forbid advertising tobacco products, except alongside warnings that are just as large and initiate strict rules for selling them in convenience stores and duty free shops.The legislation also limits the nicotine permitted in E-cigarettes and requires warning labels on cigarette packaging to be increased in size. Companies that violare the law face fines of NIS 450,000.The bill's co-sponsor, Likud MK Yehudah Glick, said he hoped he had done everything possible to stop young people from starting smoking."When 8000 Israelis die every year from smoking, there can be no compromises," said Economics Committee chairman Eitan Cabel (Zionist Union), who sponsored the bill together with Glick. "We are leading a revolution that will save lives."
