Tobacco may be a thing of the past in Tas

Cigarettes will be "so last century" in Tasmania if laws are extended to prevent the sale of tobacco to people born after the year 2000, health experts say.

Tasmania's current laws already prevent the sale of tobacco to people born in 2000 or later, but that restriction expires on January 1, 2018.

Independent MP Ivan Dean has introduced the Public Health Amendment (Tobacco-free Generation) Bill to parliament, which would see current laws extended so retailers could never sell cigarettes to anyone born this century, although the law would be subject to review.

Professor E Haydn Walters and Kathryn Barnsley from the University of Tasmania wrote in the Medical Journal of Australia that the legislation would put Tasmania on the right path to become Australia's healthiest state by 2025.

"Cigarettes will become a 'so last century' phenomenon," they wrote.

The pair said Tasmania was the first jurisdiction in the world to craft such mould-breaking legislation.

"The rest of world will soon follow another bold Australian initiative against the global tobacco nightmare," they said.

Currently, Tasmania's smoking rates are above the national average, reflecting the state's lower socio-economic status and a long-term lack of investment in the issue, they wrote.