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KUALA LUMPUR: Even as the government is going at full throttle to curb smoking at eateries, NGOs and academicians are saying that the battle in tobacco control is far from over. Tobacco companies have been found offering attractive incentives and rewards to retail outlets to prominently display their brands of cigarette packs at sales counters. Civil society groups are calling for the government to look into banning such displays and making it mandatory for retail outlets to obtain a licence to sell tobacco products.

International Islamic University Malaysia's Department of Pharmacy Practice Assoc Prof Dr Mohamad Haniki Nik Mohamed said a recent study showed that about 70% of 240 retailers interviewed in Malaysia had taken part in incentive programmes by tobacco companies. He said these retailers, which included convenience stores, coffeeshops and grocery stores, were required to prominently display cigarette packs according to a "tobacco power wall" design.

He explained that the retailers were required to arrange the cigarette packs based on a visual guide (planogram) by the tobacco companies and to have a dedicated space to feature particular brands. "This 'power wall' is prominent because this is the first and last place people will see when they go into a store," he told a press conference at the National Cancer Society Malaysia office yesterday.

The retailers, he added, were then rewarded with cash, shopping and food vouchers, gifts and even invitations to social events. "Shopping vouchers and cash are given based on (whether) they can achieve their sales target," he said. Some 61% of retail outlets, said Prof Mohamad Haniki, were also found to be visited and monitored by representatives of tobacco companies on a weekly basis.

He said that what was more worrying was the fact that more than half of retailers surveyed were located within 1km from primary or secondary schools. "Studies have shown that exposure to cigarette advertising to adolescents would have an impact on them, in terms of initiation or in continuing smoking," he said.

South-East Asia Tobacco Control Alliance senior policy adviser Dr Mary Assunta Kolandai said countries like Thailand and Singapore had banned the pack display of cigarette brands in shops. "In Thailand 20 years ago, the percentage of male smokers was about 45% but now it has come down to below 40%," she said. There are currently no specific legal provisions in Malaysia against displaying cigarette packs at the point of sale, she added, though there were laws against advertising tobacco products.

Source; The Star