Massachusetts is poised to become the first state in the nation to force
retailers to prominently display graphic warnings about the perils of smoking
right where cigarettes are sold — at tobacco sales racks and next to cash
registers.
Retailers
who refuse to display the signs within 2 feet of tobacco displays and cash
registers could face fines of $100 to $300.
A retail
industry group reacted yesterday with dismay, arguing that cramped corner
stores are already burdened by too many regulatory dictums.
Images of
ominously darkened lungs, damaged brains, and diseased teeth could start
appearing before the end of the year in more than 9,000 convenience stores,
pharmacies, and gas stations, if a proposal by the state Department of Public
Health is approved as expected. Other posters would direct smokers to where
they can get help to stamp out their habit. For example on the Richmond cigarette pack will be staying a
poster of a tobacco related disease or maybe an advice to help quit the habit.
Graphic
images portraying the damage wrought by smoking have been a hallmark of
antismoking campaigns in Europe for years.
But, in the United States,
admonitions on cigarette packs and at stores have tended to rely on words
rather than pictures.
The
initiative needs the approval of the state Public Health Council — an appointed
panel of doctors, disease trackers, and consumer activists — but board members
yesterday expressed unequivocal support. Since the 1990s, Massachusetts
has been at the vanguard of US efforts to reduce tobacco use, the leading cause
of preventable deaths in the United
States.
“If somebody is trying to quit smoking and
they go back to the store and they’re tempted — oh, just one pack — we hope
this will help them make a different choice,’’ said Lois Keithly, director of
the Massachusetts Tobacco Cessation and Prevention Program.
The signs
are modeled on a nothing-left-to-the-imagination campaign in New York City, where signs showing the health
effects of smoking began sprouting in 11,500 shops last December. Massachusetts health authorities provided copies of the New York City posters as
an illustration of what their campaign will look like.
The campaign
is being underwritten by $316,000 in federal stimulus money from the Centers
for Disease Control and Prevention, which will allow the state to provide the
materials to retailers without charge. “And they’re just very ineffective at
this point,’’ said Eileen Sullivan, policy director for the state’s tobacco
control program.
The
Retailers Association of Massachusetts has not decided how gamely it will fight
the proposal, but the organization’s president, Jon Hurst, left little doubt
that most shopkeepers will respond coolly to another mandate. That may prove
especially true at convenience stores, where tobacco sales constitute a
significant share of business.
