Two retailers prosecuted for selling tobacco to minors

25/10/2011 | Underage Tobacco Sales

Two dairy owners in the Palmerston North area were convicted and fined this month for selling tobacco to minors during two controlled purchase operations (CPO) run by the MidCentral Public Health Service early in 2011.

MidCentral Health Smokefree Enforcement Officer Brett Munro said: “It is just really disappointing when we spend a lot of time working with and educating retailers on the need to ask for identification when selling tobacco and they don’t check it before selling.

“Retailers should look at customers when they enter and insist on a form of photo identification from anyone who looks under the age of 25. “No photo identification, no sale. It is that simple."

The Smokefree Environment Act 1990 governs the sale of tobacco products to minors. One of its principle aims is to protect children from developing an addiction that will cause an early death in 50% of smokers.

CPOs are conducted randomly during the year, as required by the Ministry of Health, whereby children aged well below the legal age of 18 are used to approach retailers to purchase tobacco products under controlled conditions. If asked, the children involved always state their correct age.

Although ten retailers questioned or refused the sale of cigarettes to the underage customers during these operations, two retailers still sold tobacco products to these children, and it was particularly concerning that the sales were to 15-year-olds.

The MidCentral Public Health Service runs regular CPOs to help reinforce the legal obligations of business operators to make sure tobacco sales are not made to underage customers. This is not about pointing the finger, but is rather about protecting our young people from the harmful effects of tobacco.