negative health effects of second-hand smoke. laws vary by country and locality. nearly all countries have laws restricting places where people can smoke in public, and over 40 countries have comprehensive smoke-free laws that prohibit smoking in virtually all public venues. bhutan is currently the only country in the world to completely outlaw the cultivation, harvesting, production, and sale of tobacco and tobacco products under the tobacco control act of bhutan 2010. however, small allowances for personal possession are permitted as long as the possessors can prove that they have paid import duties. the pitcairn islands had previously banned the sale of cigarettes, but it now permits sales from a government-run store. the pacific island of niue hopes to become the next country to prohibit the sale of tobacco. iceland is also proposing banning tobacco sales from shops, making it prescription-only and therefore dispensable only in pharmacies on doctor's orders. new zealand hopes to achieve being tobacco-free by 2025 and finland by 2040. singapore and the australian state of tasmania have proposed a 'tobacco free millennium generation initiative' by banning the sale of all tobacco products to anyone born in and after the year 2000. in march 2012, brazil became the world's first country to ban all flavored tobacco including menthols. it also banned the majority of the estimated 600 additives used, permitting only eight. this regulation applies to domestic and imported cigarettes. tobacco manufacturers had 18 months to remove the noncompliant cigarettes, 24 months to remove the other forms of noncompliant tobacco. under sharia law, the consumption of cigarettes by muslims is prohibited. smoking age in the united states, the age to buy tobacco products is 21 in all states as of 2020. similar laws exist in many other countries. in canada, most of the provinces require smokers to be 19 years of age to purchase cigarettes (except for quebec and the prairie provinces, where the age is 18). however, the minimum age only concerns the purchase of tobacco, not use. alberta, however, does have a law which prohibits the possession or use of tobacco products by all persons under 18, punishable by a $100 fine. australia, new zealand, poland, and pakistan have a nationwide ban on the selling of all tobacco products to people under the age of 18. tabak-trafik in vienna: since january 1, 2007, all cigarette machines in austria must attempt to verify a customer's age by requiring the insertion of a debit card or mobile phone verification. since october 1, 2007, it has been illegal for retailers to sell tobacco in all forms to people under the age of 18 in three of the uk's four constituent countries (england, wales, northern ireland, and scotland), rising from 16. it is also illegal to sell lighters, rolling papers, and all other tobacco-associated items to people under 18. it is not illegal for people under 18 to buy or smoke tobacco, just as it was not previously for people under 16; it is only illegal for the said retailer to sell the item. the age increase from 16 to 18 came into force in northern ireland on september 1, 2008. in the republic of ireland, bans on the sale of the smaller 10-packs and confectionery that resembles tobacco products (candy cigarettes) came into force on may 31, 2007, in a bid to cut underaged smoking. most countries in the world have a legal vending age of 18. in north macedonia, italy, malta, austria, luxembourg, and belgium, the age for legal vending is 16. since january 1, 2007, all cigarette machines in public places in germany must attempt to verify a customer's age by requiring the insertion of a debit card. turkey, which has one of the highest percentage of smokers in its population, has a legal age of 18. japan is one of the highest tobacco-consuming nations, and requires purchasers to be 20 years of age. since july 2008, japan has enforced this age limit at cigarette vending machines through use of the taspo smart card. in other countries, such as egypt, it is legal to use and purchase tobacco products regardless of age. germany raised the purchase age from 16 to 18 on september 1, 2007. some police departments in the united states occasionally send an underaged teenager into a store where cigarettes are sold, and have the teen attempt to purchase cigarettes, with their own or no id. if the vendor then completes the sale, the store is issued a fine. similar enforcement practices are regularly performed by trading standards officers in the uk, israel, and the republic of ireland. taxation cigarettes are taxed both to reduce use, especially among youth, and to raise revenue. higher prices for cigarettes discourage smoking. every 10% increase in the price of cigarettes reduces youth smoking by about 7% and overall cigarette consumption by about 4%. the world health organization (who) recommends that globally cigarettes be taxed at a rate of three-quarters of cigarettes sale price as a way of deterring cancer and other negative health outcomes. cigarette sales are a significant source of tax revenue in many localities. this fact has historically been an impediment for health groups seeking to discourage cigarette smoking, since governments seek to maximize tax revenues. furthermore, some countries have made cigarettes a state monopoly, which has the same effect on the attitude of government officials outside the health field. in the united states, states are a primary determinant of the total tax rate on cigarettes. generally, states that rely on tobacco as a significant farm product tend to tax cigarettes at a low rate. coupled with the federal cigarette tax of $1.01 per pack, total cigarette-specific taxes range from $1.18 per pack in missouri to $8.00 per pack in silver bay, new york. as part of the family smoking prevention and tobacco control act, the federal government collects user fees to fund food and drug administration (fda) regulatory measures over tobacco. fire-safe cigarette cigarettes are a frequent source of deadly fires in private homes, which prompted both the european union and the united states to require cigarettes to be fire-standard compliant. according to simon chapman, a professor of public health at the university of sydney, reduction of burning agents in cigarettes would be a simple and effective means of dramatically reducing the ignition propensity of cigarettes. since the 1980s, prominent cigarette manufacturers such as philip morris and r.j. reynolds have developed fire safe cigarettes, but phillip morris was later the subject of a government lawsuit for allegedly hiding the even greater dangers associated with their brand of such cigarettes. the burn rate of cigarette paper is regulated through the application of different forms of microcrystalline cellulose to the paper. cigarette paper has been specially engineered by creating bands of different porosity to create "fire-safe" cigarettes. these cigarettes have a reduced idle burning speed which allows them to self-extinguish. this fire-safe paper is manufactured by mechanically altering the setting of the paper slurry. new york was the first u.s. state to mandate that all cigarettes manufactured or sold within the state comply with a fire-safe standard. canada has passed a similar nationwide mandate based on the same standard. all u.s. states are gradually passing fire-safe mandates. the european union in 2011 banned cigarettes that do not meet a fire-safety standard. according to a study made by the european union in 16 european countries, 11,000 fires were due to people carelessly handling cigarettes between 2005 and 2007. this caused 520 deaths with 1,600 people injured. cigarette advertising many countries have restrictions on cigarette advertising, promotion, sponsorship, and marketing. for example, in the canadian provinces of british columbia, saskatchewan and alberta, the retail store display of cigarettes is completely prohibited if persons under the legal age of consumption have access to the premises. in ontario, manitoba, newfoundland and labrador, and quebec, canada and the australian capital territory the display of tobacco is prohibited for everyone, regardless of age, as of 2010. this retail display ban includes noncigarette products such as cigars and blunt wraps. warning messages in packages as a result of tight advertising and marketing prohibitions, tobacco companies look at the pack differently: they view it as a strong component in displaying brand imagery and a creating significant in-store presence at the point of purchase. market testing shows the influence of this dimension in shifting the consumer's choice when the same product displays in an alternative package. studies also show how companies have manipulated a variety of elements in packs designs to communicate the impression of lower in tar or milder cigarettes, whereas the components were the same. some countries require cigarette packs to contain warnings about health hazards. the united states was the first, later followed by other countries including canada, most of europe, australia, pakistan, india, hong kong, and singapore. in 1985, iceland became the first country to enforce graphic warnings on cigarette packaging. at the end of december 2010, new regulations from ottawa increased the size of tobacco warnings to cover three-quarters of the cigarette package in canada. as of november 2010, 39 countries have adopted similar legislation. in february 2011, the canadian government passed regulations requiring cigarette packs to contain 12 new images to cover 75% of the outside panel and eight new health messages on the inside panel with full color. as of april 2011, australian regulations require all packs to use a bland olive green that researchers determined to be the least attractive color, with 75% coverage on the front of the pack and all of the back consisting of graphic health warnings. the only feature that differentiates one brand from another is the product name in a standard color, position, font size, and style. similar policies have since been adopted in france and the united kingdom. in response to these regulations, philip morris international, japan tobacco inc., british american tobacco plc., and imperial tobacco attempted to sue the australian government. on august 15, 2012, the high court of australia dismissed the suit and made australia the first country to introduce brand-free plain cigarette packaging with health warnings covering 90 and 70% of back and front packaging, respectively. this took effect on december 1, 2012. environmental effects simple molecular representation of cellulose acetate with one of the acetate groups on the cellulose backbone shown by the red circle cigarette filters are made up of thousands of polymer chains of cellulose acetate, which has the chemical structure shown to the right. once discarded into the environment, the filters create a large waste problem. cigarette filters are the most common form of litter in the world, as approximately 5.6 trillion cigarettes are smoked every year worldwide. of those, an estimated 4.5 trillion cigarette filters become litter every year. to develop an idea of the waste weight amount produced a year the table below was created. estimated waste produced from filters number of filtersweight 1 pack (20)3.4 grams (0.12 oz) sold daily (15 billion)2,551,000 kilograms (5,625,000 lb) sold yearly (5.6 trillion)950,000,000 kilograms (2,100,000,000 lb) estimated trash (4.5 trillion)765,400,000 kilograms (1,687,500,000 lb) discarded cigarette filters usually end up in the water system through drainage ditches and are transported by rivers and other waterways to the ocean. aquatic life health concerns in the 2006 international coastal cleanup, cigarettes and cigarette butts constituted 24.7% of the total collected pieces of garbage, over twice as many as any other category, which is not surprising seeing the numbers in the table above of waste produced each year. cigarette filters contain the chemicals filtered from cigarettes and can leach into waterways and water supplies. the toxicity of used cigarette filters depends on the specific tobacco blend and additives used by the cigarette companies. after a cigarette is smoked, the filter retains some of the chemicals, and some of which are considered carcinogenic. when studying the environmental effects of cigarette filters, the various chemicals that can be found in cigarette filters are not studied individually, due to its complexity. researchers instead focus on the whole cigarette filter and its ld50. ld50 is defined as the lethal dose that kills 50% of a sample population. this allows for a simpler study of the toxicity of cigarettes filters. one recent study has looked at the toxicity of smoked cigarette filters (smoked filter + tobacco), smoked cigarette filters (no tobacco), and