The Tasmanian Government is considering ruling out banning tobacco sales to people born after 2000, in the wake of a vote in the state's Upper House last night.

Legislative Council member Ivan Dean wants to make it illegal for people born after 2000 to buy tobacco once they turn 18 - meaning they would never legally be able to buy cigarettes.

The proposal was passed by the Upper House on Tuesday night.

The move comes a week after the tobacco industry lost a High Court challenge to stop the Commonwealth's introduction of plain packaging.

"This would mean that we would have a generation of people not exposed to tobacco products," Mr Dean said.

"It would be easier for retailers to enforce because when they ask for ID, all they would need to see if the person was born after the year 2000.

"Young people are more likely to give cigarettes to more young people.

"As the generation reaches 18 years, there will be fewer of them smoking and while some of those first turning 18 might smoke, as time goes on fewer and fewer will."

Health Minister Michelle O'Byrne says she believes a smoking ban is worthy of serious consideration and says she has asked the Commissioner for Children to analyse the proposal.

"I think an arbitrary ban on smoking would be very difficult to police, particularly an island state," she said.

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"However, saying that those people who sell cigarettes legally cannot sell cigarettes to a certain age is appropriate. We do it now.

"What the smoke-free generation would say is that, potentially, anyone from the year 2000 would not be able to buy cigarettes ever, because every year, it would just get that little bit older."

While the vote was unanimous, the independent Member for Murchison, Ruth Forrest, says she foresees problems.

"These children born post-2000 will still be exposed to passive smoking because the reality is there will still be people who'll continue to smoke, and even now the restrictions push people away from doors and buildings like that," she said.

"We still get to walk through a cloud of smoke every now and then."

'Radical new ideas'

It is understood Singapore and Finland are the only other jurisdictions considering such a law.

Cancer Council spokesman Simon Barnsley welcomes the move and is urging the Government to act.

"We believe it'd be exciting for the Government to explore radical new ideas that might set the pace for the rest of the country," he said.

"We do have the highest smoking rates in the country, we do have low health standards, we do have a health system under pressure, and I think it's excellent for government to explore very different ways to tackle the heath problem."

Jann Smith from the Alcohol, Tobacco and Other Drugs Council says it is unclear whether the move will help smokers to quit.

"If we're talking about changing this, we can also see consequences that we might not have thought through," she said.

"So there could be a black market that would emerge. There could be a range of other consequences that we need to think through."

The Upper House motion also calls for a reduction in the number of outlets licensed to sell tobacco.