Over time regulators have prohibited smoking inside public spaces, increased the minimum age for tobacco sales, placed bans on tobacco advertising, imposed mandatory health warnings on packaging and, last year, even prohibited the sale of tobacco products from vending machines. Such measures have been imposed through a gradual introduction of health protection regulation.

The latest step in this development was the removal of tobacco displays from large shops (with a ban on tobacco displays for smaller shops to be implemented in 2015). The removal of cigarette branding, says Health Secretary Andrew Lansley, will deter young smokers from starting smoking through the removal of 'glitzy packaging'. The UK was not the first to introduce the latest measure; some other European countries had already been implementing the prohibition. On the whole, experiences in other countries indicate that the graduated regulatory approach being followed in the UK may be effective. In Canada, for example, there has been a gradual decline in teenage smoking over the last decade.

So what can we expect next on the smokeless horizon? Well, the government are currently considering whether they will require plain packaging on tobacco products. Again, if the ban on plain packaging were to go ahead, Britain would not be the first to impose it. Despite the threat of legal action and international arbitration, Australia's Upper House approved a ban on the use of trademarks and brand logo on tobacco packaging. In addition, groups like the BMA have called for a ban on smoking in all vehicles. Similar legislation exists in other countries aimed at protecting children from the effects of second-hand smoke in cars.

Unless there was a total ban, it is unlikely that improvements in smoking reduction can ever be attributed to regulatory changes alone. Changes in the law are playing one part in a wider social marketing campaign; one in which society increasingly seeing smoking as distasteful and unsociable. Its clear that action will need to be taken to address issues such the black market in tobacco and apparent inequalities in UK health. However, success in other countries like Canada and Finland will be enough to convince politicians that, where it comes to tobacco control, nudge-nudge regulation works.