Primary school students from Grapevine’s Favorite Island – Hrísey – submitted a proposal to parliament calling for the banning of the importation of tobacco products.
Taking part in a project created by The Public Health Institute of Iceland called “Smoke-Free Classrooms”, five grade school students drew up the proposal, complete with citations, past precedent, and workarounds for rebuttals and refutations.
The students cited that a ban was put in place on the importation of M&M’s from the 70s up until the 90s for health reasons (specifically, the red dye – a similar ban was also placed on Skittles at that time), so naturally, a ban on something even more harmful, such as tobacco, is not without merit.
While the authors say they are fully aware that the lack of tobacco products brought into the country would result in a loss of revenue from their taxation, they argue that the savings acquired from lower health costs in treating smoking-related illnesses in public hospitals could make up for that. Plus, they add, Iceland would be a prettier country as there wouldn’t be cigarette butts everywhere.
The proposal recommends 2015 as the year to ban tobacco products altogether. No word yet as to whether or not any member of parliament is willing to sponsor the proposal.