Rise in teen demand for ‘kiddie-sized’ tobacco angers Cancer Council

Anti-smoking groups are up in arms over the latest aggressive tactics being used by the tobacco industry to recruit a new cohort of younger smokers, and it all comes down to a key change to the packaging.

THE growing attraction of cheap “kiddie- sized” packs of roll-your-own tobacco to teenagers has sparked a call for government intervention.

Cancer Council Australia public health committee chair Anita Dessaix said while the fall in the rates of teenage smoking was encouraging, governments should be concerned about increasingly aggressive tactics used by the tobacco industry to recruit a new cohort of younger smokers with roll-your-own products.

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“Companies have been producing progressively smaller pouches of tobacco that are cheaper upfront, keeping the price low despite annual increases in tobacco taxes, and in the process, making roll-your-own much more affordable and accessible to young people,” Ms Dessaix said.

The warning comes as new data shows that while smoking rates are dropping among ­Australian secondary school students, those who had smoked in the past month – about 7 per cent of all students – the proportion regularly using roll-your-own tobacco has increased from 24 per cent to 29 per cent in the three years to 2017. The findings have been released today for World No Tobacco Day.

While smoking in teens has fallen, the tobacco industry is looking at new ways to attract the young. Picture: iStock

Almost three-quarters who smoked in the past month had used roll-your-own (RYO) ­tobacco at some time (73 per cent).

The latest Australian Secondary Students’ Alcohol and Drug (ASSAD) survey found that 82 per cent of teens had never smoked, up from 77 per cent in 2011. Cancer Council Victoria analysis shows that in 2010, no RYO products on the market were smaller than 30g.

By 2017, almost half the products on the market were 27g, 25g or 20g, making many products cheaper than the smallest available pack of cigarettes. Over recent months, several 15g products have appeared in shops.

Ms Dessaix said “kiddie packs” of fewer than 20 cigarettes were banned decades ago by governments.