Study: Phasing out teen smoking could save 1.2 mn lives

Banning the sale of tobacco to people born between 2006 and 2010 could prevent around 1.2 million deaths from lung cancer by the end of the century, said a modelling study released Thursday.

Smoking is responsible for roughly 85 percent of all cases of lung cancer, the deadliest cancer worldwide, according to the World Health Organization.

If current trends continue, there will be nearly three million lung cancer deathsamong people born from 2006 to 2010, said the new study from the WHO's International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC).

But if tobacco sales were banned for these 650 million people, around 1.2 million deaths could be prevented by 2095, estimated the modelling research published said.

The study, one of the first studies aiming to assess the impact of a tobacco-free generation, drew on data about cancer cases and deaths from 185 countries.