JAIL SMOKE SELLERS, SAY DOCTORS

Five leading health professionals have demanded tough jail terms for shop
owners caught illegally selling cigarettes to minors.

In a powerful attack on the tobacco industry, they likened cigarettes to
heroin and accused illegal sellers of "murder by stealth".

Dr David Celermajer from Prince Alfred Hospital said he wanted "draconian
measures" enforced - including jail and the cancellation of tobacco sales
licences - to stop the sale of cigarettes to under-age youth.

"I think it is murder. I think those people [selling cigarettes to minors]
are committing murder by stealth.

"They are peddling drugs of addiction that are poisonous to young people
and there is no penalty too harsh."

He likened tobacco to heroin, saying: "They are both drugs of addiction and
they both kill half of their regular users."

Dr Celermajer was speaking in Perth after the 46th annual conference of the
Cardiac Society of Australia and New Zealand. He was joined in his call by
the immediate past president of the Australian Medical Association, Dr
Keith Woollard, Dr Amanda Nagle and Dr Andrew Tonkin of the National Heart
Foundation, and Professor Chris Silagy of the Flinders Medical Centre in
South Australia.

The doctors said 90 per cent of smokers became addicted to nicotine as
teenagers. An estimated 25 per cent of teenagers currently smoke - roughly
the same proportion as adult smokers. Dr Woollard claimed the Federal
Government collected $64 million a year in tobacco tax from the illegal
sale of cigarettes to minors.

The group called for the Government to dedicate that money to an education
campaign aimed at stopping teenagers from taking up the habit.

Dr Woollard also called for Australian casinos to place health warnings
outside all entrances, saying they were the biggest culprits for passive
smoking.

"Cigarette manufacturers put a health warning on their packets. Thereis no
logic in allowing casinos to fill people with smoke without a similar
warning," he said.

Dr Tonkin said the Federal Government had to address tobacco revenue in
next week's tax package and claimed that tobacco manufacturers were able to
reduce tax by marketing "jumbo packs" of 50 or more cigarettes.

A spokesperson for Phillip Morris, Ms Nerida White, said the company
supported the current tobacco laws. In NSW, the maximum fine for selling
tobacco to minors is $5500.

Ms White said the doctors were clearly trying to attract attention to their
cause but were not providing any real answers to the problem of under-age
smoking.

Asked about the comparison to heroin, she said: "It seems to be highly
emotive language because the reality is we manufacture a legal product and
it is legal to sell to people over 18."

Checked-by: (Joel W. Johnson)