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“
Coles
Supermarkets will be urged by shareholders to remove tobacco products
from view at the company’s Annual General Meeting in Sydney today
(November 20). Health
and child welfare leaders have urged major retailers to develop a more
socially responsible policy on tobacco sale - including full support
for out-of-sight display and licensing of tobacco retailers. Action
on Smoking and Health (ASH) Australia, a shareholder in both Coles and
Woolworths, has presented to both companies new Australian research
evidence that shop display
of tobacco predisposes children to smoke.
Says
ASH Chief Executive Anne Jones, who will hand out photographs and
information* to Coles shareholders entering today’s meeting:
“We’d like to see Coles and all other retail outlets remove
tobacco from sight. “There
are around 35,000 tobacco retail outlets in Australia. Supermarkets
are among the most prominent places where children are routinely
exposed to rows of brightly-packaged tobacco displays in prominent
‘front of shop’ positions – alongside lollies and family
magazines. “The
evidence is clear that such displays help normalise tobacco in
children’s eyes – the more they see it, the more they view smoking
as normal and accessible, and the more likely they are to take it up. “There
are more than 200,000 Australian schoolchildren smoking regularly –
and almost a quarter of these are being illegally supplied by retail
outlets. “Some
Coles supermarkets have taken the responsible step of removing tobacco
displays from view. We’d like to see this become policy for all
retail chains – and indeed it should be mandated by legislation. “We
reject the tobacco industry’s misleading portrayal of smoking as an
‘adult lifestyle choice’ – in fact, it’s routinely a story of
childhood recruitment and addiction. “We
also dispute the shonky claim by retailer organisations that
because tobacco is ‘legal’ it should be on display. Many
pharmaceuticals, also legal and far less harmful, are quite properly
kept out of sight.”
Coles Myer Ltd
AGM Monday 20
November 2006 at 11am,
Media inquiries:
Stafford Sanders ph.
(02) 9334-1823 m.
0412-070-194
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Page last updated 20/11/06 |
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