Tobacco advertising in Switzerland has been banned almost completely, according to the country's voters.

Switzerland's famously lenient tobacco rules have been tightened, with over 57 percent of voters and 16 of the country's 26 cantons supporting the move.

According to final results, the Swiss voted on Sunday to tighten their notoriously lax tobacco laws by banning virtually all advertising for the dangerous products. Nearly 57 percent of voters and 16 of Switzerland's 26 cantons supported the nearly total ban, which was supported by nearly 57 percent of voters and 16 of Switzerland's 26 cantons.

"We're delighted with the results. The Swiss League against Cancer's Stefanie De Borba told the AFP news agency that the public has realized that health comes first. "The people have realized that health comes before economic interests."

When it comes to cigarette advertising restrictions, Switzerland falls well behind the majority of rich countries. This is often attributed to significant lobbying by some of the world's largest tobacco corporations, who have their headquarters in the country.

Currently, most tobacco advertising is authorized on a nationwide basis, with the exception of advertising on television and radio, as well as advertising directed explicitly at children.

However, the activists who put the subject to a vote under Switzerland's direct democracy system requested even harsher limits than those that have been implemented in other cantons. A new national law is also being considered.

Its opponents, who include the Swiss government and parliament, have stated that the plan is excessive and should be scrapped.

We are already debating cigarettes, but "we will soon be debating wine and meat," predicted Philippe Bauer, a member of Parliament for the right-wing Liberal Party, who denounced "this tyranny of the politically correct, where everything has to be controlled."

Those of Philip Morris International (PMI), the world's biggest tobacco corporation, which like British American Tobacco and Japan Tobacco has its headquarters in Switzerland and has contributed to the "No" campaign, are echoed by the president of the World Health Organization.

"This is a precipice in the horizon in terms of individual liberty," a spokeswoman for the PMI's Swiss division told AFP.

He expressed disappointment with the outcome on Sunday and encouraged lawmakers to have "moderation and measure" in putting the decision into law.

Jean-Paul Humair, the director of a Geneva addiction prevention center, praised Sunday's victory as "a very significant step forward" in the fight against tobacco use and categorically rejected the claims of the tobacco industry.

"This isn't an issue of personal liberty... He explained to AFP that tobacco usage generates "a false sense of independence" by creating a significant dependence on the substance.

Half of all users are killed as a result of this bug.

"There is no other consumer product that kills half of all consumers," said the author of the study.

Nicotine control advocates claim that liberal advertising regulations have thwarted attempts to lower smoking rates in the Alpine country of 8.6 million people, where more over a quarter of adults use tobacco products. Every year, around 9,500 people die as a result of tobacco use.

In a statement to AFP, Pascal Diethelm, the president of the OxyRomandie tobacco control organization, said that the vote on Sunday should contribute to a "change of paradigm" for federal authorities.

According to the authors, "(They) have accepted for far too long that health preventive policies should be placed under the supervision of big business."

It is estimated that the tobacco sector provides around six billion Swiss francs ($6.5 billion) to the economy yearly – one percent of Switzerland's gross domestic product – and supports approximately 11,500 jobs in the country.

In the meanwhile, Swiss health minister Alain Berset told media that it might take some time for the near-ban to take effect.

According to him, it "just does not seem feasible" that it will go into effect this year.

In the future, the new tobacco advertising limitations might be added to a new tobacco legislation that is already scheduled to go into effect next year and which would establish a countrywide minimum age for the purchase of tobacco products for the first time in history.

SOURCE: NEWS AGENCIES