Web poses new problems for tobacco control

London, Dec 10: Sales of cigarettes on the Internet are expected to soar in the coming decade and will pose new problems for tobacco controls to curtail underage smoking, researchers said on Monday.

Industry experts predict one-fifth of the $40 billion in annual US cigarette sales will be made over the worldwide web in 10 years’ time.

“If deliberate and concerted action is not taken, tobacco commerce on the Internet could prove to be a significant threat to comprehensive tobacco control,” said Mr Kurt Ribisl of the North Carolina School of Public Health.

In one of the first published studies into websites that sell cigarettes, Ribisl and his colleagues found 88 Internet cigarette sellers in 23 states in the United States. Their research is reported in the journal Tobacco Control.

Nearly half were in New York state and 49 of the total were on Indian reservations, which Mr Ribisl said could compound problems for regulators because they are considered sovereign territory.

Some of the websites sold duty-free cigarettes and many offered special promotions. “The Internet is a new frontier for tobacco companies. They want to be there selling and promoting the product and it’s the easiest way they can get straight into the bedroom of a teenager,” said Mr Clive Bates, the director of the British anti-smoking group ASH (Action on Smoking and Health). He urged governments to take action against Internet cigarette sellers and said tobacco advertising should be banned on the worldwide web. “One great strength of the Internet is that it is free and stateless. The problem is that when that is used to sell cigarettes, people are going to die,” Mr Bates said in a statement.

Mr Ribisl said the emergence of Internet cigarette vendors presented many challenges for tobacco control advocates.

“State and federal legislation and enforcement will probably be needed to ensure that appropriate excise taxes are paid on cigarettes, that grey market cigarettes are not sold online,” he added. (Reuters)