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Published on Tuesday 27 May 2008 10:18

The SNP Government's ban on the display of cigarettes in shops spearheads a new drive to cut the number of youngsters taking up smoking. But Ian Swanson finds not everyone is behind the move.

IT has been compared to bygone days when some shopkeepers would keep pornography under the counter. The Scottish Government's announcement of a ban on the open display of cigarettes in shops was a bold move in the war against tobacco.

Cigarette advertising was banned in 2002. Tobacco sponsorship came to an end in 2005. The previous Scottish Executive brought in the ban on smoking in enclosed public spaces in March 2006 – and last year the minimum age for buying cigarettes was raised from 16 to 18.

Now SNP Public Health Minister Shona Robison is leading a new drive to reduce the number of young smokers.

As well as requiring shopkeepers to keep cigarettes under the counter, the Government plans a crackdown on smuggled and counterfeit cigarettes and is considering a registration scheme for shopkeepers selling tobacco, new laws against vending machines and a ban on selling cigarettes in packets of ten.

Critics have branded the ban on point-of-sale displays as simply the latest example of the nanny state, and shopkeepers claim it will cost them thousands. Supporters insist it could help cut the number of young people taking up smoking.

Statistics show the number of youngsters starting to smoke has fallen over the past decade. But 80 per cent of smokers start in their teens – and someone who starts at 15 is three times more likely to die from cancer as a result than someone who starts in their mid-20s. So Ms Robison has set new targets – cutting the level of smoking among 13-year-old girls to three per cent and among boys of the same age to two per cent by 2014.

She says: "The challenge is to make cigarettes and other tobacco products less affordable, less accessible and less attractive to children and young people."

Labour's UK Health Secretary Alan Johnson has already backed the display ban and announced he will be consulting on a similar measure soon.

But the proposals have raised widespread concerns. The Scottish Grocers Federation, which represents many corner shops, says displays are essential to allow adults to make an informed choice about which cigarettes they want to buy.

Based on Canadian experience, SGF chief executive John Drummond says convenience stores could face bills of up to 2000 for modifying their shops to comply with the new ban. He adds that the effectiveness of display bans in other countries is "not proven".

He said: "In Iceland, where displays were banned in 2001, youth smoking remains at the same levels. In parts of Canada, youth smoking even increased following display bans, resulting in the ban being overturned after 18 months."

Smokers' rights group Forest says the display ban is "yet another attack on freedom of choice". It claims there is little evidence to suggest that point-of-sale bans do anything to reduce youth smoking rates. Neil Rafferty, Forest's Scottish spokesman, warns: "These measures will simply make smoking seem even more attractive to teenagers."

Similarly, Independent Lothians MSP Margo MacDonald is not impressed. "It's nonsense," she says. "Very few people go into a shop and look at cigarettes the way you look at sweets. They go in for the express purpose of buying cigarettes, so I don't think it will make any difference."

But Ms Robison believes the display ban will have an impact.

She says: "Young people who are exposed to tobacco advertising and promotion are more likely to take up smoking."

Ms Robison also dismisses concerns about the effect of the ban on shopkeepers. She says: "International experience has shown that implementation of tobacco display bans has not had a dramatic impact on local businesses."

Smoking is still one of the main causes of illness and premature death in Scotland. It is estimated to be responsible for around 13,000 deaths and 33,500 hospital admissions each year, and cost the NHS more than 200 million a year in hospital treatment for smoking-related illnesses.

The anti-smoking group, ASH Scotland, is firmly behind the Government's move, describing the ability of shops to have cigarettes on display as "one of the last loopholes in the tobacco advertising ban".

Chief executive Sheila Duffy says: "At the moment, if you walk into a corner shop or supermarket you are bombarded with promotions and brands. Young people will experiment with those they see most heavily advertised. Cigarettes would never get on to the market as a product you could buy openly if we knew at the beginning what we know now."