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Jump to full article: Business Wire, 2009-10-09
Intro: The National Federation of Retail Newsagents (NFRN) is urging all Labour MPs to be fully aware of the facts surrounding underage smoking, tobacco displays and international case studies in advance of the Report and Third reading of the Public Health Bill (specifically clause 21) on Monday afternoon (October 12).
The call comes as the Department of Health is poised to make one last attempt, on Monday morning, to convince MPs that a display ban will effectively reduce the levels of underage smoking. The NFRN expects the DoH to use a number of statements to achieve its aim. These may include suggestions that tobacco manufacturers design and price packs of cigarettes to attract children and that retailers are being convinced by the tobacco companies and, instead, should be recruited by Government to manage tobacco decline. However, the NFRN does not expect any evidence to prove that the removal of tobacco displays from shops will have any effect on whether children smoke or not.
National President Suleman Khonat said: "There are many international cases to show removal has no effect, but these facts will be nowhere to be seen next Monday morning. Clause 21 of the Public Health Bill is - quite simply - bad policy and, worse still, could even have an adverse effect on the trends of the past few decades."
The NFRN has raised its concerns at all three Party Conferences and also in a full page advertisement in today's (October 9) issue of The Times.
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