You report that the government has been accused of "misleading parliament" over the cost for retailers of implementing the tobacco display ban (Ministers 'quoted misleading figures' in tobacco ban debate, 10 September). Under the health bill to be debated next month, it is proposed that cigarettes will still be available to buy, but will be placed out of sight.
The article states: "Internal documents obtained under the Freedom of Information Act show that officials at the Department of Health were warned by manufacturers that they had dramatically underestimated how much it would cost retailers to modify their shops to comply with the ban."
Earlier this year the health minister Lord Darzi said that shops would pay as little as £120 to install professional covers; you report, though, that their Canadian manufacturer said the price quoted "was based on a bulk order and did not include shipping or installation costs".
However, the manufacturer quoted in writing to me, as well as to the DoH, a price of well under £200 for the cost of covers for a typical tobacco display in an independent small shop in the UK. They also told me that these covers could be fitted by the retailer themselves, without any need for specialist tools.
It is the case that shipping costs were not mentioned in the original quotation to us. However, shipping costs for lightweight plastic covers would not inflate the costs to the "almost £5,000" claimed in the article, even if they had to be shipped from Canada.
What is clear is that low-cost solutions exist and are already in widespread use in Canada. Small UK retailers will have until 2013 to implement the legislation, allowing ample time to explore a range of solutions.
Smoking is an addiction of childhood, not an adult choice. The tobacco industry needs to recruit over 100,000 new smokers every year in this country – largely children and young people – to replace those who die or quit. The tobacco industry in its own documents admits that the pack and retail displays of the pack are a major promotional tool now that advertising is prohibited, calling the pack "the communication life-blood of the firm … the silent salesman".
Two-thirds of smokers take up the habit before they reach 18, and half of all smokers will die from their addiction. In Iceland, the first jurisdiction to pass legislation to put tobacco out of sight in 2001, the number of young smokers fell significantly, and laws have now been successfully implemented in nearly all Canadian provinces and Ireland too.
The argument over costs conveniently takes the spotlight off the real issue, which is that putting tobacco out of sight will save lives. For this reason it is supported by the World Health Organisation, the chief medical officer, the health select committee and the House of Lords, as well as by the general public. Legislation to put tobacco out of sight will be put to the vote in the House of Commons on 12 October, when I am confident that MPs too will give it their overwhelming support.
