poledriver
Bluelighter
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Aus - The $13 trick to get kids smoking
A $13 packet of 25 cigarettes — just slightly dearer than the average price of a pack of illegal smokes — is the latest weapon from tobacco companies to fight the government’s tough anti-smoking laws.
British American Tobacco Australia began distributing the cut-price line of Rothmans — which it claims is the cheapest on the market this week.
With rising prices seen as one of the major motivators for people to quit, health campaigners are further alarmed after the company flagged the possibility of dropping prices even further to cater for what it claims is a surge in demand for cheap cigarettes.
The move is the latest salvo in what the industry itself is describing as “a race to the bottom” as cigarette suppliers scramble to retain market share amid efforts by the government to reduce smoking rates by raising taxes and plain packaging.
The trend has triggered calls from anti-smoking campaigners for the federal government to crack down harder, with a minimum price for cigarettes and subsidised nicotine patches. Under the cigarette tax regime implemented in December last year, a 12.5 per cent tobacco excise will apply each year over four years, ending September 2016, raising more than $5 billion for the government while lifting the price of an average packet of cigarettes to between $20 and $25.
The government has argued the excise and plain packaging laws are aimed at cutting smoking rates.
However, BATA claims it has had the opposite effect with rising prices driving demand for lower priced cigarettes.
It claims the cheap cigarette sector has grown by more than 66 per cent in the past five years as price sensitive smokers down trade to cheaper brands, with more than 42 per cent of the total legal cigarette market now priced under $15 per pack.
Dianna Larosse, 23, from Rooty Hill, who has been smoking for five years, said price was an important factor for her.
Smoked out
● 16.4% of adults aged 16 and over smoke
● 20.5% of men and 12.4%of women smoke
● 7.9% of boys and 7.1% of girls smoke
● 46,120 hospitalisations were attributed to smoking in 2011-2012
Source: NSW government
“I have a brand I like but they’re too expensive so I often settle for something cheaper,” she said.
Mandy Connor, 27, from Guildford, who has been smoking on and off for 10 years said she would consider cutting back if packs rose to $25 or more.
“You’d have to,” she said.
But BATA spokesman Scott McIntyre said the figures showed the excise had failed to curb smoking, especially among 18 to 30-year-olds, who were driving the cheap cigarette market.
He said prices could “potentially” drop further as the industry continued to battle for market share.
NSW Cancer Institute figures show smoking rates declined from 22.5 per cent to 14.7 per cent between 2002 and 2011. In 2012, the smoking rate rose to 17.1 per cent, an increase the Institute attributed to the inclusion of greater numbers of younger people and males in the survey.
Institute cancer prevention manager Claudine Lyons said the cost of cigarettes was one of the key motivators for people quitting.
“The fact cigarette companies are engaging in this price battles shows the policy measures are having an impact,” she said.
Sunday Telegraph Editorial:
CAN you smell the desperation in the air? Tobacco is a dying industry — no pun intended — but the cigarette companies are not going down without a fight. Their response to the federal government’s plain-packaging laws is twofold: first, to claim the laws are failing and more people are smoking and, second, to push down the price of cigarettes in order to entice more price-sensitive young people to become addicts.
So far there is limited evidence that plain-packaging is working, but what does work to discourage young smokers? Higher prices. The tobacco giants know it, and that’s why they’re pushing prices down.
They claim to be deeply troubled that smokers are buying illegal cigarettes. Well, thanks for the concern, but that’s a police problem. Plain packs were never intended to persuade hardcore smokers to quit. The evidence shows that no matter how much prices rise, there is a large number of dedicated smokers who will cut back on all other spending — even food.
But to keep their business alive, the tobacco companies need children — your children — to grow up and become smokers. They don’t care if that means cancer and early death. But the rest of us should. Nick Xenophon is right: let’s have a minimum price for cigarettes. Maybe we can get some committed smokers to cut down, even if they don’t quit. And we can definitely stop children from lighting their first fag.
http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/ne...get-kids-smoking/story-fni0cx12-1226946898681
A $13 packet of 25 cigarettes — just slightly dearer than the average price of a pack of illegal smokes — is the latest weapon from tobacco companies to fight the government’s tough anti-smoking laws.
British American Tobacco Australia began distributing the cut-price line of Rothmans — which it claims is the cheapest on the market this week.
With rising prices seen as one of the major motivators for people to quit, health campaigners are further alarmed after the company flagged the possibility of dropping prices even further to cater for what it claims is a surge in demand for cheap cigarettes.
The move is the latest salvo in what the industry itself is describing as “a race to the bottom” as cigarette suppliers scramble to retain market share amid efforts by the government to reduce smoking rates by raising taxes and plain packaging.
The trend has triggered calls from anti-smoking campaigners for the federal government to crack down harder, with a minimum price for cigarettes and subsidised nicotine patches. Under the cigarette tax regime implemented in December last year, a 12.5 per cent tobacco excise will apply each year over four years, ending September 2016, raising more than $5 billion for the government while lifting the price of an average packet of cigarettes to between $20 and $25.
The government has argued the excise and plain packaging laws are aimed at cutting smoking rates.
However, BATA claims it has had the opposite effect with rising prices driving demand for lower priced cigarettes.
It claims the cheap cigarette sector has grown by more than 66 per cent in the past five years as price sensitive smokers down trade to cheaper brands, with more than 42 per cent of the total legal cigarette market now priced under $15 per pack.
Dianna Larosse, 23, from Rooty Hill, who has been smoking for five years, said price was an important factor for her.
Smoked out
● 16.4% of adults aged 16 and over smoke
● 20.5% of men and 12.4%of women smoke
● 7.9% of boys and 7.1% of girls smoke
● 46,120 hospitalisations were attributed to smoking in 2011-2012
Source: NSW government
“I have a brand I like but they’re too expensive so I often settle for something cheaper,” she said.
Mandy Connor, 27, from Guildford, who has been smoking on and off for 10 years said she would consider cutting back if packs rose to $25 or more.
“You’d have to,” she said.
But BATA spokesman Scott McIntyre said the figures showed the excise had failed to curb smoking, especially among 18 to 30-year-olds, who were driving the cheap cigarette market.
He said prices could “potentially” drop further as the industry continued to battle for market share.
NSW Cancer Institute figures show smoking rates declined from 22.5 per cent to 14.7 per cent between 2002 and 2011. In 2012, the smoking rate rose to 17.1 per cent, an increase the Institute attributed to the inclusion of greater numbers of younger people and males in the survey.
Institute cancer prevention manager Claudine Lyons said the cost of cigarettes was one of the key motivators for people quitting.
“The fact cigarette companies are engaging in this price battles shows the policy measures are having an impact,” she said.
Sunday Telegraph Editorial:
CAN you smell the desperation in the air? Tobacco is a dying industry — no pun intended — but the cigarette companies are not going down without a fight. Their response to the federal government’s plain-packaging laws is twofold: first, to claim the laws are failing and more people are smoking and, second, to push down the price of cigarettes in order to entice more price-sensitive young people to become addicts.
So far there is limited evidence that plain-packaging is working, but what does work to discourage young smokers? Higher prices. The tobacco giants know it, and that’s why they’re pushing prices down.
They claim to be deeply troubled that smokers are buying illegal cigarettes. Well, thanks for the concern, but that’s a police problem. Plain packs were never intended to persuade hardcore smokers to quit. The evidence shows that no matter how much prices rise, there is a large number of dedicated smokers who will cut back on all other spending — even food.
But to keep their business alive, the tobacco companies need children — your children — to grow up and become smokers. They don’t care if that means cancer and early death. But the rest of us should. Nick Xenophon is right: let’s have a minimum price for cigarettes. Maybe we can get some committed smokers to cut down, even if they don’t quit. And we can definitely stop children from lighting their first fag.
http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/ne...get-kids-smoking/story-fni0cx12-1226946898681
