Lung foundation calls for supermarkets to be banned from selling tobacco

A new push is underway to ban supermarkets from selling cigarettes, in a bid to lower the nation’s smoking rate.

Supermarkets should be banned from selling cigarettes, the Lung Foundation of Australia says.

The foundation has floated the ban as a means to stop smokers being tempted to buy a pack or a pouch alongside their groceries.

“We need everyone from government to big corporations to put the lung health of Australians ahead of profits from a product that kills 66 Australians daily,” foundation chief executive Mark Brooke said.

“Previous news reports have highlighted Coles estimates their cigarette sales each year is enough to kill more than 1600 Australians and cause tobacco-related medical costs of more than $300m a year.”

Former smoker Sarah Waters has joined the campaign for cigarettes to be banned from supermarkets.

Sales of legal cigarettes have plummeted in Australia. Picture: NewsWire

Ms Waters started smoking aged 13, and continued for nearly 30 years.

“It isn’t easy to quit but not being able to buy cigarettes so easily would have made a big difference. When I started smoking there was no age limits in place, and they were marketed to young people as being cool.”

Prince Charles Hospital thoracic physician Henry Marshall said nicotine is as addictive as heroin.

“The difference is you can’t buy heroin with your weekly shopping.”

“It is hard to fight an addiction while also being able to buy tobacco products so easily.”

Professor Marshall has thrown his voice behind the lung foundation’s calls for a ban.

“People who smoke deserve more help from health professionals and the government,” he said.

Coles says it is providing smokers the choice to buy legal tobacco products. Picture: NewsWire / Liam Kidston

“I would like to see people demand action from the multinational tobacco companies who have known smoking causes lung cancer since before 1954 and continued to sell products to make profit off Australians. It is time we said, ‘enough is enough’.”

The Lung Foundation is calling for the government to ban supermarkets from selling tobacco products.

In response, Coles said in a statement it is providing smokers with a legal way to obtain tobacco.

“Coles complies with all Commonwealth, State and Territory laws aimed at minimising the negative health effects of tobacco use, however we recognise the need to provide choice to those customers who wish to purchase these products legally,” a spokesperson told NewsWire.

Woolworths has been approached for comment.

Earlier this year, IGA reported it had lost $150m of revenue over three years, as tobacco black market sales skyrocketed across the country.

Australians have comprehensively turned to the black market for cigarettes and tobacco, as the tax on legal smokes becomes unaffordable.

The taxes the federal government takes from tobacco have plummeted from $16.3bn five years ago, to $7.4bn this year.

Smoking rates have fallen from 20 per cent of the population in 2001, to about 8 per cent now, the latest government data shows.

Originally published as Lung foundation calls for supermarkets to be banned from selling tobacco