Limiting child access to cigarettes – Coalition must enforce health act

Our guest writer is Tom Yates, a working NHS doctor

Last month, health minister Andrew Lansley said his Department would “tell Parliament in due course”  whether it intends to implement measures, contained in the 2009 Health Act, banning cigarette vending machines and point of sale advertising of cigarettes. This was hardly re-assurring.

In the UK, cigarettes cause much more premature mortality than obesity or alcohol. One in two smokers will die from their habit. The poor smoke more than the rich and cigarettes are a major reason why poor men, across the developed world, are twice as likely to die in middle age (35-69) than rich men. In England and Wales, differences in rates of smoking explain 59 per cent of this excess risk.

Limiting children’s access to cigarettes is important – 40 per cent of adult smokers started smoking before the age of 16. The coalition have not yet committed to implementing the part of the Health Act that bans cigarette vending machines, a key measure to control child smoking.

Whilst only one in 100 cigarettes are bought from vending machines, one in eight regular smokers aged eleven to fifteen access their cigarettes in this way.

Bans on tobacco advertising reduce cigarette consumption and, given the large numbers of deaths attributable to smoking, even small decreases in consumption lead to significant falls in mortality. However, to be effective they need to leave tobacco companies no loopholes – no Camel Boots or Marlboro Classic Clothing.A comprehensive World Bank review concluded:

“Policymakers who are interested in controlling tobacco need to know whether cigarette advertising and promotion affect consumption. The answer is that they almost certainly do, although the data are not straight forward.

“The key conclusion is that bans on advertising and promotion prove effective, but only if they are comprehensive, covering all media and all uses of brand names and logos.”

Tobacco companies responded to the 2002 Tobacco Advertising and Promotion Act, which banned most forms of cigarette advertising, by producing new variants of existing brands, thereby increasing the impact and size of point of sale displays. If implemented in full, the 2009 Health Act will put a stop to large backlit point of sale displays, moving all cigarettes below the counter.

The tobacco industry and shop keepers are protesting loudly but their concerns about rises in tobacco smuggling and small retailers going out of business ignore the bigger picture.

Richard Peto argues that progress in reducing premature mortality is mostly made though small victories against major killers. He is right and the time to act is now.

41 Responses to “Limiting child access to cigarettes – Coalition must enforce health act”

  1. Dave Atherton

    Yes that is me, although classical liberal and free marketeer as opposed to right winger maybe more apt. On smuggling in Canada:

    As reported in the Toronto Golbal Post 4/12/09

    “Cigarette smuggling rises in Canada”

    “The black market in cigarettes is believed to be a $1.5 billion industry in Canada. The Ontario government estimates that half of all cigarettes sold in the province are illegal. In neighboring Quebec, that number is 40 percent. Contraband smokes cost the federal and provincial governments more than $2 billion in lost taxes.”

    http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/canada/091201/cigarettes-

  2. Dave Atherton

    Display bans deter teenagers from smoking ? Here are the statistics for the 15 – 19 year olds smoking prevalence in Canada – the youngest age bracket Statistics Canada computes.

    2006 (display ban in 1 or 2 of the smaller provinces only) smoking prevalence: 15%

    2007 (display ban came into force in all but one small province) smoking prevalence: 15%

    2008 smoking prevalence: 15%

    2009 smoking prevalence: 13% (a not statistically significant difference according to Statistics Canada. The decrease occurred in the 17 to 19’s, while the 15’s to 17’s remained identical to 2008)

    http://www.newstatesman.com/uk-politics/2010/10/tobacco-ban-smoking-public

  3. Joseph Clift

    RT @leftfootfwd: Limiting child access to cigarettes – Coalition must enforce health act http://bit.ly/94pNha

  4. BHF

    Doctor Tom Yates:Coalition must implement ban on tobacco vending machines &displays http://bit.ly/94pNha email your MP http://bit.ly/bb39hx

  5. ProstateCancerRC

    RT @TheBHF: Doctor Tom Yates:Coalition must implement ban on tobacco vending machines &displays http://bit.ly/94pNha email your MP http: …

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