"We
don't want kids to smoke..."
It's the Mother of all Motherhood Statements. Everyone says it - even
tobacco companies (see NEWS below).
What follows is usually the word "...but..."
- followed by opposition to measures shown by research to be
effective.
A growing alliance of health, medical,
child welfare, educational, church, social equity, community and
research organisations want to see children protected from tobacco - and
no "but(t)s".
We'd like to see the selling of
tobacco products made more responsible
and brought into line with other dangerous
and addictive products.
AIMS of
ASH and other health groups
NEWS - research and developments on tobacco sale
RESOURCES - including new video and factsheets
RESEARCH
EVIDENCE for putting tobacco out of sight
STEPS IN THE RIGHT DIRECTION
- national / world scoresheet
ILLEGAL SUPPLY TO CHILDREN
Tobacco
in kids' faces: Australian convenience store and supermarket 2006
In Australia, there are 35,000 tobacco
retail outlets - not just tobacconists but supermarkets, petrol
stations, newsagents, bottle shops, convenience and corner stores.
Pricewaterhouse report May 2005,
"Sales of Cigarettes and Tobacco Products by Type of Retail
Business"
Exposure to retail displays
predisposes children to smoke: see study in NEWS below

AIMS
These aims are endorsed by a
growing list of children's, health, welfare, church, community and
research organisations.
See current
list of endorsements
These organisations would like to see in all states and
territories:
- All tobacco products out of sight in
all retail outlets.
See how tobacco displays look now - and how they could be put out of
sight!
See Summary
factsheet See Coles Myer's welcome move in Tasmania - ASH
release 7/4/05
Send an action
email now to major
supermarkets
- No staff under 18 to be allowed to
be involved with selling tobacco.
See Why
children should not sell tobacco
- A
fully implemented registration scheme for tobacco
sellers (retailers and wholesalers), the fees funding seller education
and proper compliance monitoring. Some states (SA, Tas) have such a
scheme. See The
case for licensing tobacco sellers See
Licensing
of Tobacco Retailers and Wholesalers: Desirability and Best Practice
Arrangements - 2002 report to Commonwealth Health Dept
- Cars carrying children to be made
smokefree. SA and Tasmania
have done this; NSW, Qld and WA have proposed it - other states are lagging. See
factsheet on
Kids
in smoky cars
ASH would also like to see...
- An end to devious tobacco promotion
under different names.
See some of Big Tobacco's latest dubious
marketing
ploys (and see our slideshow Tobacco
marketing below the line)
NEWS
... FROM AUSTRALIA
NSW review considers its
position
1/7/08: Submissions have now closed for the NSW review of measures to
protect children from tobacco - a report to cabinet expected in late
July. ASH and many other groups and individuals called on the government
to end tobacco promotion to children.
See review
webpage
40 groups call for effective action -
as Philip Morris misleads retailers
28/5/08: On the even of World No Tobacco Day (May 31), ASH along with 40
organisations has called for effective action in all states and
territories to end tobacco promotion to children. See
ASH media
release 29/5/08
Meanwhile, tobacco giant Philip Morris has written to NSW retailers
urging them to oppose getting tobacco out of sight in shops by
law. Echoing the Mother of all Motherhood Statements (above), the letter
says: "We strongly support
measures to prevent children... from smoking, but [our
emphasis] the government's proposal to hide cigarettes is not the
solution..." They don't say what is. See Philip
Morris letter and good critique of their arguments
More on Why
tobacco displays should be banned
Queensland to make cars carrying
children smokefree
26/5/08: The Queensland government will legislate to make cars carrying
children smokefree, among other measures. See
Premier
and Health Minister media release 26/5/08
Ministers agree on national ban of
fruity cigarettes by end of 2009
23/5/08: Australian Health Ministers at the Ministerial Council on Drug
Strategy have agreed that all states and territories will enact
legislation to prohibit the sale of fruit- and confectionery-flavoured
cigarettes by December 2009. MCDS
communique 23/5/08
ACT moves to end tobacco displays have
community backing
An ACT government move to end shop
tobacco display and make it harder to sell tobacco to children has
strong community backing, despite ACT Opposition comments. See
ASH media
release 18/3/08 The bill
would amend the ACT Tobacco Act to put all tobacco products
totally out of sight in all retail outlets. Also included is a ban on
rewards for smoking purchases, including FlyBuys and other points
systems. See ABC
news report 6/3/08
Cigarettes keep selling - because
they're still in our faces
5/3/08: Tobacco is top of the grocery sales lists, occupying the No.
1 spot and 6 of the top 7. The latest Nielsen survey shows how hard it
is to reduce smoking rates while cigarettes are promoted at such high
visibility. See ASH
media release 5/3/08
NSW bans mobile selling and fruity
cigs, flags shop display and car smoke
bans
28/2/08: The NSW government has proposed a total ban on retail
display and underage selling, licensing of sellers and mandatory
smokefree cars carrying children. The
government also banned mobile selling at youth music events, and
fruit-flavoured cigarettes. See
ASH media
release 28/2/08
Study says displays
undermine quitting... as Tas sets 3-year deadline
22/11/07: A new study has shown quit attempts are undermined by
tobacco displays in shops - as Tasmania's parliament moves to end
displays by February 2011. See
ASH /
Protecting Children for Tobacco media release 22/11/07
Call for generic (plain)
packaging
August 2007: A compelling
case is being made for plain packaging of
tobacco. See
2007 report
with illustrations
90% public support for
smokefree cars carrying kids
25/7/07: Quit Victoria has urged the Victorian government to ban smoking
in cars carrying children, after a Quit survey showed 90% public support
for the measure. SA already has a ban in force, with other states
expected to follow. See Quit
Vic media release 25/7/07
Asthma study backs
smokefree cars campaign
10/3/07: A new study published in the Medical Journal of
Australia has shown teenagers risk of asthma
is doubled by exposure to secondhand smoke in cars - the University of
WA authors backing calls for banning smoking in cars carrying
children. See ASH
Australia media release 19/3/07 including link to the research
Company documents show retail as
tobacco front line
Quit
Victoria release 29/5/06 on new information exposing the
relationship between the tobacco industry and retail lobby groups. The
release draws on information published in Tobacco
Control journal May 2006, and follows story in Melbourne
Age 29/5/06
.... FROM OVERSEAS
Scotland plans smokefree future including
protecting children
22/5/08: Displays of cigarettes in shops are set to become a thing of
the past as part of the Scottish Government's continuing drive to stop
smoking and tobacco promotion to children. See
Scottish
government plan Proposals
include:
- Legislating to restrict display of
tobacco products at points of sale;
- Updating statutory controls on tobacco
sales, with a view to introducing licensing and sanctions such as
cautions and fixed penalty notices;
- Considering issues surrounding
outlawing the sale of cigarettes in packs of 10 and further steps to
reduce underage sales from vending machines;
- Introducing a scheme for councils to
more vigorously enforce tobacco sales laws;
- Cracking down on smuggled and
counterfeit cigarettes;
- Considering moves towards plain
packaging for cigarettes; and
- Stepping up education in schools and
other settings.
World No Tobacco Day May 31 to
highlight promotion to youth
April 2008: The World Health Organisation has made the theme of World No
Tobacco Day 2008 on May 31 "The tobacco industry catches you
young." See
WHO's
World No Tobacco Day 2008 site
Study shows smoking in
cars hazardous to health
20/3/08:
A
new study confirms that smoking in a car presents a serious health risk
to occupants, especially children - and ventilation does not remove the
hazard. The Canadian study from the University of Waterloo measured
secondhand smoke levels after one cigarette was smoked in 18 different
cars - and found the worst examples were more hazardous than
indoor-smoky bars. See
Canada
TV report
See full
study
New Zealand moves towards ending tobacco shop
displays
3/12/07: A review in NZ/Aotearoa proposes banning tobacco displays
in shops. See NZ
government discussion paper Health
groups will be pushing for:
- A ban on visual display of any tobacco
products or imagery in retail outlets.
- A ban on the payment of tobacco
"slotting [placement] fees" to retailers.
- A limit of one POP [point of purchase]
location selling tobacco per shop.
- In-store display of large graphic health warnings, with
Quitline phone numbers.
- Implementation of a self-funding
Tobacco Retailer Licensing Scheme.
NZ retailers' misleading
arguments: NZ retailers are lobbying against a display ban -
using flawed arguments contrary to independent research. Look
at the retailer
arguments and then see The
truth about retailer claims

RESOURCES
ASH FACTSHEETS on
Protecting Children from Tobacco:
Brief 2-page
Summary
of the retail display issue
Why
tobacco displays should be banned
The
truth about retailer claims misleading our
governments
Leading adman says: Product
display is advertising
No exceptions, no exemptions
Why
children should not sell tobacco
The
case for licensing tobacco sellers
Kids
in smoky cars
Current
list of endorsements -
national and NSW organisations supporting effective measures to protect children
See also our 2006
factsheet Tobacco
Facts
on retail display
Tear Down the Walls
30/4/08 comment piece in the Ottawa Citizen makes a
very good, reasoned analysis of why tobacco display "powerwalls"
have so much impact on kids and why they should be removed. See
the
article
See our 6min video (2006):
PROTECTING CHILDREN FROM TOBACCO
Young people speak on retail displays
See it at YouTube
or download as...
(may take some
minutes, depending on connection speed etc)
Note: the
above video was made in 2006 and since then, the figure for the number
of children smoking regularly has fallen - it is not now 205,000 but
around 140,000. This sis still an appalling figure - and if every child
smoker is one too many, then every square metre of tobacco display is a
square metre too much.
RESEARCH EVIDENCE for putting
tobacco out of sight
Tobacco shop displays normalise
tobacco and predispose
children to smoke
Australian study from The Cancer
Council Victoria shows how removing tobacco products from view would
help reduce encouragement of kids to smoke. See
ASH media
release 2/6/06 with link to study
A review of worldwide studies
has confirmed significant tobacco display impact on smoking,
especially for children. See
preliminary
review summary
Tobacco retail activity
affects nearby school smoking rates
A Canadian study has found a link between retail tobacco activity -
displays, lower prices - and the smoking rates in nearby schools. See
the study
Tobacco displays
undermine quitting
An Australian study has shown quit attempts are undermined by
tobacco displays in shops. See
ASH /
Protecting Children for Tobacco media release 22/11/07
STEPS IN THE RIGHT DIRECTION
See Australian
states chart as at Nov.'07
TOBACCO DISPLAY:
Tasmania (see NEWS above) will end tobacco displays in shops by February
2011, with minor exemptions. The ACT (on March 6, 2008) introduced a
bill to do the same, expected to come into effect much sooner.
NSW, NZ and Scotland (see NEWS above) have
proposed similar bans. Qld, WA, SA and
Tas have
restricted display to one square metre. See
Qld
display law
In Tasmania, any shop displaying
tobacco is required to show this graphic
picture. For
Tasmania's law up to this point, see Guidelines
for price tickets and other matters The mouth cancer image now
required to be shown is at the end of the
document More
on the Tas laws
THEY'VE BANNED TOBACCO SHOP DISPLAYS...
WHY CAN'T WE?
Two countries (Iceland, Thailand) eight Canadian provinces and
territories, and one Australian jurisdiction (Tasmania) have adopted laws to prohibit the visible display of tobacco
products at point of purchase.
Two more Australian jurisdictions (ACT and NSW) and one more country (NZ) -
as well as Scotland and several Canadian provinces - have proposed similar bans (see NEWS above for latest). The list of
those with legislation already passed:
-
Iceland
(August 1, 2001)
-
Thailand
(September 24, 2005)
-
Canada:
8 provinces: Saskatchewan*, Manitoba*, Nunavut, Ontario, Prince Edward Island,
Northwest Territories*, Nova Scotia and Quebec.
*
applies to areas accessible to under-18s
-
Tasmania
(from February 2011)
Source:
ASH Australia, Canadian Cancer Society
LICENSING:
SA, WA, Tas and ACT require tobacco sellers to be licensed. NSW has proposed
the same.
CARS CARRYING CHILDREN SMOKEFREE:
Already in force in SA
and Tasmania; Queensland has committed to legislate and it's been proposed in NSW.
WA and Victoria are also reported to be considering it.
ILLEGAL SUPPLY TO CHILDREN
Even though it's illegal to supply cigarettes to
children, over 140,000 Australian school children are weekly smokers -
and 23% obtain their cigarettes from retailers - including over a third
of 16-17-year-olds (ASSAD survey). For best practice on compliance monitoring and enforcement
see National
Drug Strategy report - including statement that
legal advice confirms it is not entrapment to involve young people in
test operations.
Tips
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