I think it was the prime minister (or spokesperson) who made this very clever argument: (paraphrasing) “we are not taking away choice… cigarettes are designed to inherently take away your choice by trapping you in an addiction.”
I’m not picking sides here, just pointing out a great piece of rhetoric to spin the policy as taking away something that takes away your choice. Effectively putting forward the idea that you don’t have choice to begin with.
(sorry to say this rhetoric was not mentioned in the linked article; I just heard it on BBC World Service)
I think it would be nigh-impossible to make tobbaco non-carcinogenic though. And even without cancers, there’s also a myriad of respiratory issues, cardiovascular problems and even autoimmune problems stemming from cigarette use to account for. I don’t think it would be feasible to ban the harmful ingredients and have anything left over.