Australia: Call to License Tobacco Retailers as Study Finds Cigarettes Cheapest in Poor Queensland Suburbs

Source from:  The Australian (au)  07/31/2013

CIGARETTES are more widely available and cheaper in two of southeast Queensland's most disadvantaged suburbs compared to Brisbane's affluent west, a study has found. 
 
The research has prompted a call for government to consider licensing tobacco retailers in Queensland and for zonal restrictions to be applied.

University of Queensland researchers analysed the price of four popular cigarette brands and the number of tobacco retailers in Kenmore and The Gap, comparing them with Logan Central and Inala.

Study author Emma Dalglish said they identified 20 tobacco retail outlets in the affluent Brisbane western suburbs, compared with 36 in the lower socio-economic areas.

They also found the average pack price of cigarettes was lower in the more disadvantaged suburbs.

Ms Dalglish said one particular pack of cigarettes sold for, on average, 77c less than the recommended retail price in Logan Central and Inala when prices were compared across outlets.

But the same brand in Kenmore and The Gap generally cost about $1 more.

"In Australia, there are currently no zoning restrictions or ordinances that limit the number, concentration or placement of tobacco retailers,'' the researchers wrote in the latest Australian and New Zealand Journal of Public Health.

"Reducing the density of tobacco retailers through limiting the number of tobacco retail licences issued per suburb may reduce cigarette discounting in addition to reducing the convenience of purchasing cigarettes.''

But that would require Queensland to introduce compulsory licensing of tobacco outlets.

"It's only Queensland and Victoria that don't have licensing for tobacco retailers,'' Ms Dalglish said. "That's something we should be looking at.''

Cancer Council Queensland backed calls for licensing of tobacco retailers and is also pushing for a high minimum floor price for cigarettes.

"The difference between rates of smoking in advantaged and disadvantaged areas in Queensland is stark,'' CCQ spokeswoman Katie Clift said. "More needs to be done to address the fact that in disadvantaged areas, people are twice as likely to smoke.''

Health Minister Lawrence Springborg described the research as "very concerning''.

"I wouldn't respond on a knee-jerk basis, but government should never rule out, and I would never be prepared to rule out, additional options to address what is the horrific scourge of smoking and its consequences, even though it's at a diminishing level,'' he said.

Queensland's Chief Health Officer Jeannette Young encouraged all retailers, big and small, to charge the full recommended retail price for cigarettes.

"Price and tax measures are an effective and important means of reducing tobacco consumption, particularly among young people,'' Dr Young said. "These products are hazardous to health and should not be discounted for any reason.

"Price increases encourage existing smokers to quit and raise the barrier for people considering taking up smoking.''

Tobacco causes more than 15,000 Australian deaths each year, including an estimated 3400 Queenslanders, yet about 15 per cent of the population aged 14 and older continue to smoke daily. Enditem