More Stores to Stock Tobacco

Source from:  Press-Republican.com 06/21/2012

PLATTSBURGH - Family Dollar plans to sell tobacco products, and local public-health advocates are concerned about increased advertising and its effect on young people. There is already one licensed tobacco retailer for every 194 children in New York state, they say, and that number will become more pronounced with 279 more retail stores licensed to sell tobacco products, including eight Family Dollar stores in the North Country. TARGET ALLEGED "These newest tobacco retailers will target low-income households," said Jill Rock, senior public-health educator for the Adirondack Tobacco Free Network, in a press release. "This is unacceptable when tobacco-related illnesses still remain the number-one cause of preventable death." The problem, according to public-health advocates, is that advertising displays used in retail outlets have been proven to influence young people to smoke. According to a recent report from the New York State Department of Health, tobacco retailers display an average of 18 ads per store. The 2011 Retail Advertising Tobacco Survey found that stores in New York have an average of 32 square feet devoted to displays of tobacco products. TOBACCO MARKETING Also, the 2012 surgeon general's report titled "Preventing Tobacco Use Among Youth and Young Adults" confirmed that young people are more likely to smoke with increased tobacco marketing in retail outlets. "The most powerful marketing tool available to tobacco companies is product packaging and displays in stores," Rock said. Nationwide, the tobacco industry spends more than $1 million per hour on tobacco marketing in licensed stores, according to the surgeon general's report. HIGHER THAN AVERAGE The New York state average smoking rate is 15.5 percent of the population, and the North Country exceeds that. Clinton County's rate tops that at 21.7 percent, while Essex County's rate is at 24.2 percent, and Franklin County comes in at 30.7 percent. RESPONSIBILITY Family Dollar announced in April that it would begin selling tobacco products nationwide as a convenience for its customers. Speaking during a retail conference earlier this year, Family Dollar CEO Howard Levine said that selling cigarettes will draw more customers into Family Dollar. Those customers would have shopped elsewhere for tobacco products, he said. Josh Braverman, spokesperson for Family Dollar corporate headquarters, said he does not know when stores in the North Country will begin selling tobacco products but mentioned that the company has "begun rolling out merchandise to our stores across the country. "We certainly take the responsibility of selling tobacco in our stores very seriously," he said, when asked about the impact advertising has on youths. "In addition to being a member of the We Card Program (which requires customers to show ID if there is any possible question about their age), our teams go through ongoing training to ensure we are not selling tobacco to anyone underage. "We are strictly abiding by all local and federal laws governing the sale of tobacco." LOCAL ORDINANCES Although the Adirondack Tobacco Free Network does not visit stores directly to discuss the health-related issues of "point-of-sale" marketing to youth, the advocacy group does support efforts to reduce store advertising. "ATFN does outreach to local municipalities to educate them on the 2009 Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act, which provides a mechanism for communities in New York state to pass local ordinances to regulate times, place and manner in which tobacco products are advertised and sold," said Laurie Williams, education and outreach coordinator for the Clinton County Health Department. The first product-display ordinance in New York was recently passed in the Village of Haverstraw in Rockland County. To date, no municipalities in the tri-county region have passed similar ordinances. "Communities have it within their power to stop the spread of tobacco sales and to reduce the harmful impact of tobacco marketing to youth and to people in lower income communities," Rock said. Enditem