Nine out of ten teenagers, between 13 and 17 years old, manage to buy cigarettes in authorized commercial places, such as bakeries, cafeterias, markets and newsstands, according to a study by the National Cancer Institute (Inca) released today (3). Sale is prohibited for this age group.
The study, which uses data from school surveys, also shows that seven out of ten young people had access to cigarettes through direct purchase at authorized establishments. Between 2015 and 2019, prohibited sales increased from 81.1% to 89.6%. Another piece of data is that 70% of minors buy single cigarettes, which means that the points of sale open the pack of cigarettes and sell single units, contrary to the law.
For the executive director of the Cancer Foundation, Luiz Augusto Maltoni, the data show that teenagers have found it easy to buy cigarettes in places where sales should not take place.
“When you violate any cigarette pack or package, which is a product for consumption, you are putting the integrity of the product at risk. It is not known whether what was in there was altered”, warns the doctor. “These are two important transgressions. First, not complying with the law in relation to selling to minors and, second, selling single cigarettes, which is another transgression that the law does not allow”.
According to Maltoni, parents, society and control institutions must maintain vigilance in the fight against smoking in Brazil, even with the drop of more than 50% in the number of smokers in the country. “We realize that we have not been able to advance much further in this reduction. It is necessary to constantly pay attention to all these points, to act in the age group where there is a greater opportunity to prevent the onset of the smoking habit and, therefore, the addiction among children, young people and adolescents”.
Since 2019, Brazil and Turkey are cited as two countries that have adopted all measures to combat tobacco, established in 2005 by the MPOWER Report, of the World Health Organization (WHO), according to the director. “We cannot let the lack of supervision or new forms of smoking, such as electronic cigarettes, reheat this market with the formation of new audiences”.
Smoking, active or passive, can lead to several health problems, such as heart and respiratory diseases and cancer.
