OnMedica, Londres 9 de marzo de 2011

Visible tobacco displays in shops to be stubbed out

Caroline White

Wednesday, 9 March 2011

Visible tobacco displays in shops will be banned from April 2012, as part of five year plans announced by the government today to curb the prevalence of smoking in England.

But shopkeepers will still be to keep displays, providing they are hidden from public view, and the allowable space will actually increase from 0.75 to 1.5 metres to compensate for lost revenue in an already harsh economic climate, a Department of Health spokesperson told OnMedica.

"There were discussions with retailers and business [about the proposals]. You could say it was a concession, but the government did not cave in. It was agreed that retailers needed some flexibility. And the point of getting rid of tobacco displays is to stop people from starting smoking."

The implementation of the new regulations will be staggered to ease the financial impact on smaller retailers, who will not have to comply until 2015.

The move will be in addition to legislation to ban tobacco sales from vending machines, which is due to come into force this October, if the government can fend off the legal challenges brought by the tobacco industry .

The government has also promised to look at whether plain packaging of tobacco products might help cut the number of young people who take up smoking and support adult smokers who want to quit. It will explore the competition, trade, and legal implications of such a move, as well as the impact on tobacco smuggling, before the end of the year.

Around one in five people (21.2%) in England still smokes at a cost to the NHS of more than £50 million a week. The annual death toll in England from smoking is more than 80,000—more than all deaths from alcohol, road traffic and other accidents, suicide, illegal drugs and diabetes combined.

Healthy Lives, Healthy People: A Tobacco Control Plan for England aims to cut overall smoking prevalence by to 18.5%; and lop 3% off the proportion of 15 year olds and pregnant women who smoke to 12% and 11%, respectively, by 2015.

While efforts to promote effective local enforcement of tobacco legislation, particularly on the age of sale of tobacco and tax measures will continue, action to tackle smoking will be led by local authorities. This is in line with the reconfiguration of public health responsibilities, which will transfer to local government in line under the government’s healthcare reforms.

“We want to encourage the development of partnerships in tobacco control where anyone who can make a contribution is encouraged to get involved,” says the plan.

And in a nod to the prime minister’s Big Society idea, the plan continues: “In implementing comprehensive tobacco control in their communities, we encourage local authorities to maximise local involvement by building tobacco control alliances that include civil society.”

Commenting on the plan, Health Secretary Andrew Lansley said that his ambition was “to reduce smoking rates faster over the next five year than has been achieved in the past five years.”

BMA Director of Professional Activities, Dr Vivienne Nathanson, said that the BMA had been urging the government for some time to implement the tobacco aspects of the 2009 Health Act to end tobacco displays in large supermarkets from September 2011 and in smaller shops a year later.

“While we are pleased that the Health Secretary has finally decided to implement this legislation we are disappointed that he has said he will delay introducing the display ban until April 2012 for large shops and April 2015 for smaller ones,” she added.

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