Tuesday, April 7, 2015

Cigarette display ban will ‘help stop children taking up smoking’

British Heart Foundation: No shops or public premises in UK will be able to sell tobacco products on open display from today. Legislation coming into force today means that newsagents, convenience stores, petrol stations, hotels, pubs and nightclubs will no longer be able to display cigarette packs for sale. In most cases packs will be kept behind sliding doors and will only be in view when staff are serving customers. Since 2012, large shops such as supermarkets have not been able to have open displays of tobacco in stores.

Simon Gillespie, BHF Chief Executive, said: “By taking cigarettes off the display shelves we’re cutting off one of the last avenues that tobacco companies have to entice young people to smoke.
“Tobacco products kill around half of users, so we have a responsibility to help deter more people from starting smoking and reduce the number of deaths.
“Most regular smokers start before they are 18, but this law will help discourage children from buying packs and starting this deadly habit.
“This is a victory for campaigners for better health and takes us another step closer to ‘de-normalising’ smoking.”