OUR KIDS' $6M PUFF

CHILDREN will smoke more than 27 million cigarettes - an average of 22 a
week each - in South Australia this year and pay more than $4 million in
tobacco taxes to the Federal Government.

The alarming statistics were issued yesterday by an army of health groups
which wants Australia's politicians to commit $64 million to smoking
prevention.

The Heart and Cancer Offensive Against Tobacco, led by the Heart Foundation
and the Australian Cancer Society, includes support from the Australian
Medical Association and dozens of specialist medical groups and foundations.

Using census figures and a 1996 survey of smoking in secondary schools, the
Offensive estimates 23,397 South Australians aged 12 to 17 will average 22
cigarettes a week each, spending $6.26 million on tobacco this year.

Nationally, the Offensive estimates 336,030 secondary students will smoke
390 million cigarettes this year - generating $100 million in tobacco sales
of which $64 million will go in taxes.

But less than half of 1 per cent of all cigarette taxes was spent on
smoking prevention, said the executive director of the Heart Foundation's
SA division, Mr Bob McEvoy. Of the $1.6 billion in federal excise on
tobacco, the Offensive wants the $64 million collected nationally in
"illegal taxes" from children to be put back into prevention programs.

"All we're asking them for is to hand over those taxes that children
provide to be used in preventing children smoking," Mr McEvoy said
yesterday. "We know that the child-smoking rates are increasing, they're
not going down."

The Offensive also has used the statistics to calculate how many young
smokers would live in each federal electorate and to alert MPs "to the size
of the problem".

Kingston MP Ms Susan Jeanes, with an estimated 2469 child smokers in her
electorate, said the Howard Government had spent more than any other
Government on smoking prevention.

"It's easy to demand $64 million from the Government but I don't know that
we've got it to hand over at the moment," she said. "A lot of what we get
from cigarette sales, don't forget, also goes into treating
(smoking-related) diseases."

Ms Jeanes said the Government had been very successful with its "Every
Cigarette is Doing You Damage" campaign and was looking at extending it.

"We've actually had other countries buying the campaign," she said.

Bonython MP Mr Martyn Evans, whose electorate had an estimated 2119 child
smokers, said Labor proposed to add $3 million to the $8 million the Howard
Government already spent on preventing all forms of drug abuse by young
people.

Checked-by: Pat Dolan