WELLINGTON, Oct. 4 (Xinhua) -- Banning tobacco sales for youngsters and creating a generation of people who never smoke could prevent 1.2 million deaths from lung cancer globally, according to a newly published study.

The study, which used a computer simulation to predict an outcome based on historical data on 82 countries, suggests banning the purchase of cigarettes and other tobacco products among 14-18 years olds could prevent almost half of future lung cancer deaths in men, and around one third in women, in this birth cohort in 185 countries by 2095. The study was published on Friday by The Lancet Public Health journal.

Nearly two-thirds of the deaths averted would be in low- and middle-income countries, according to the researchers from New Zealand's University of Otago, Spain's University of Santiago de Compostela, and the International Agency for Research on Cancer under the World Health Organization.

Smoking is the biggest risk factor for lung cancer, the study said.

"Not only could this save huge numbers of lives, it could massively reduce the strain on health systems of treating, and caring for people in ill health as a result of smoking," said research author Julia Rey Brandariz of the University of Santiago de Compostela.

No countries have laws currently making it illegal to sell tobacco to young people. New Zealand's groundbreaking legislation to ban the sale of tobacco products to anyone born in or after 2009 was recently repealed, according to the study. Enditem

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