News

Snag on fags gag: UK drags

The EC Council of Ministers has postponed voting on a proposal to ban tobacco advertising in member states, until next May. The proposal is to be considered further by the European Parliament before a final vote is taken.

The measure is being strongly opposed by Britain, Germany and the Netherlands, with Greece and Denmark also likely to vote against.

Portugal, Italy and France already have national legislation banning tobacco promotion.

Tobacco companies are campaigning vigorously against an EC ban, and have sought support from the publishing and advertising industries, which stand to lose millions of pounds. The tobacco lobby has always argued that advertising does not recruit new smokers, but is aimed at encouraging existing smokers to change brands.

But new evidence published in the last month by the Cancer Research Campaign (CRC) has shown a clear link between cigarette advertising and smoking

among 11 to 14 year old children. In a sample of 640 children, those most aware of advertisements were more likely to become smokers than those with little knowledge of the brands.

And a new survey of British teenagers published by the Office of Population Censuses and Surveys in September found that by the age of 15, 25% of children have started smoking regularly, and another 10% occasionally.

’The CRC report proves conclusively that advertising induces children to start smoking’, David Pollock, the director of ASH, told healthmatters. ‘It would be disgraceful if the UK government didn’t change its mind in the light of the evidence.’

Tobacco advertising bans are now in force in some 20 countries around the world, and evidence is mounting of their effectiveness in reducing tobacco consumption. In Canada a ban came into effect in January 1989. In the following two years tobacco consumption per adult fell 13.8% - compared with a reduction in the UK of 0.85% in the same period. According to Andreas Seibert, policy analyst for the Canadian Council on Smoking and Health, the drop has been even greater among young people.

Meanwhile in Britain, the tobacco industry is running a national newspaper campaign based on a recent ruling by a Quebec court that the Canadian ban is ineffective and unconstitutional.

Unfortunately for the industry, there is also new evidence from New Zealand to contend with. Tobacco consumption in New Zealand was rising just before an advertising ban came into force in December 1990. In the first six months of 1991 supermarket sales of tobacco fell by 7.4% compared with the same period in 1990, and the number of people smoking fell by 3%.

’The evidence from New Zealand has proven that bans on advertising can produce a sharp fall in smoking prevalence and tobacco consumption’, said David Pollock. ‘The weight of the evidence now puts the British government in great difficulty.’