Kudos to those keeping kids safe from big tobacco

By Matt Kelley                                                                                                                            Health Officer                                                                                                                          Gallatin City-County Health Department


Parents in the Gallatin Valley now have one more option for shopping in an environment free from big tobacco’s pervasive efforts to recruit children into the ranks of the addicted.

Heeb’s Fresh Market recently opened its doors to a store free from tobacco and tobacco advertising. The store – a locally owned operation run by Montanans Mitch and Sherri Bradley – will join a small but growing number of establishments that do not sell tobacco products. Other stores refusing to sell tobacco products include the Community Food Co-Op in Bozeman; El Mercadito Mexican grocery and the Ridge Run Drive Thru Grocery in Four Corners; and national chain stores CVS and Target.

Why is this noteworthy?

The motivation for these appeals is clear. Nearly nine out of 10 smokers try their first cigarette before the age of 18, and 98 percent start smoking by age 26, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Research published in scientific journals has found significant correlation between youth exposure to in-store tobacco advertising with smoking initiation and intentions by youth to use tobacco products. One 2010 study, published in the journal Pediatrics, found that adolescents who reported moderate frequency of visits to stores with tobacco advertising were over 60 percent more likely to initiate tobacco use when compared to adolescents who reported lower frequency of store visits. The odds of initiation increased the more youth visited stores with tobacco ads.

This should not be surprising. Why would tobacco companies spend so much on in-store advertising if the tactics were not effective?

The potential impact of youth use of tobacco products is enormous. In 2014, the U.S. Surgeon General estimated that 19,000 youth in Montana would die prematurely from smoking. Smoking remains the leading preventable cause of premature disease and death in the United States.

This can seem overwhelming, even hopeless, for parents who would prefer their children not be exposed to these ads with every visit to a grocery store, gas station or corner market. That’s why we should celebrate and acknowledge the proactive steps taken by retailers such as Heeb’s that forego big tobacco’s push to recruit our kids.

Parents seeking to shop free from tobacco marketing can find tobacco-free retailers throughout the U.S. at shoptobaccofree.org.