“A child protection measure”. The words used by Public Health Minister Shona Robison when she launched the Tobacco and Primary Medical Services (Scotland) Bill in February 2009. The bill which became an Act just over a year ago introduces a number of measures with the clear aim of reducing youth smoking and preventing young people starting to smoke.
The passage of the bill is now the subject of a new ASH Scotland report. Counter Measures, funded by Cancer Research UK, is a comprehensive study of the campaigns against and in support of the measures in the Bill which included a ban on tobacco vending machines, a ban on retail tobacco displays, and stricter sanctions for those who break tobacco sales laws.
Introducing Counter Measures, Professor Gerard Hastings of Stirling University says, “Our children have for far too long been prey to increasingly elaborate and enticing displays of tobacco products when they go to spend their pocket money. Displays that we know, along with the design of tobacco packs, have become increasingly important marketing tools for a declining industry that has rightly been shorn of its other advertising and promotional tricks“.
It is these displays that the Act sought to ban with huge support from health and professional organisations, and the final bill received substantial cross-party support in the Scottish Parliament. That did not mean the tobacco industry did not have its say. The industry gave both written and oral evidence to the Health & Sport Committee seeking to stop both the ban on displays and vending machines going ahead and water down other areas of the bill. They failed to convince Parliament, but have not given up on their opposition to the measures.
Tobacco displayat Edinburgh Airport
Anyone who has followed tobacco industry tactics on display bans internationally will have been unsurprised that the next move from this powerful and rich industry was to turn to the courts.
Despite losing an initial petition for a judicial review calling into question the powers of the Scottish Parliament to pass such legislation, Imperial Tobacco, continues to explore further legal challenges. As a result, the intended introduction of a point of sale display ban for larger retailers which was due to be introduced in October this year, has had to be delayed.
We should ask, at what cost? The tobacco industry depends for its future on recruiting and addicting new consumers, many of whom begin smoking as children. Such legal challenges are undoubtedly costly to government in terms of both legal fees and time spent defending these public health measures through the courts. However the costs to our society run deeper still, and will be measured in lives lost as this lethal and addictive product continues to recruit new users.
Recent evidence from Ireland on the effects of a display ban shows that when tobacco promotions are put out of sight, young people perceive smoking as less prevalent and a less normal activity. Ending point of sale displays is an important measure, and one that should be implemented in Scotland with all speed and enforced rigorously.
To quote Professor Hastings again on the issue of tobacco displays: “This is a child protection measure. This is enlightened Government.”
