THERE?WAS?NO?HUFFING?and puffing from business owners as?health officials packing a number of anti-smoking posters knocked on doors to discourage proprietors from selling tobacco to minors.
The outreach by environmental officers was made to sensitise the public about the laws against selling cigarettes to minors, and it came on the eve of World No Tobacco Day yesterday.
The exercise started at the corner of Westbury and Baxter’s Road and moved onto other areas in Bridgetown.
Debirt Maynard, senior environmental health officer at ther Branford Taitt Polyclinic, said the initiative was well received by the businesses that willingly agreed to have the signage erected.
He said the posters bearing the Ministry of Health stamp distributed yesterday were supposed to supersede any other posters that were being distributed otherwise.
The exercise covered the entire island, with officers from the six polyclinics identifying specific areas in their catchments to distribute the posters and also to remind shop proprietors to ask for identification if a customer looked younger than 18 years old.
However, some business owners said cigarette sales had fallen in recent times.
Kevin Gobin, proprietor of Babulall Bar on Baxter’s Road, said people were not smoking as much as before, but it was not related to the ban on smoking in public places, but the hike in the price of cigarettes.
Nonetheless, he said, business was not too bad.
“We have smokers and drinkers. People like to lime, so you get them coming out, but nobody actually buys a big pack now. They look to buy a smaller pack,” Gobin said.
He said he supported the ban on public smoking, but added that it had its negatives and positives.
“Being a bar in Baxter’s Road, which has a culture of smoking and drinking over the years, you find that the smokers go outside. Sometimes people are generally cooperative but some say not and you have to refuse to serve them,” he said.
With regard to the signage distributed yesterday, Gobin said he preferred the signs being distributed by Brydens, the distributor for cigarettes. He said theirs were more eye-catching and to the point.
Stacy Seale, who works at Half Time Sports Bar, said they had seen slower sale of cigarettes, as the price continued to climb, while Indal Persaud, of Persaud’s Variety Shop, also on Baxter’s Road, said he sold at least half as many cigarettes now as he did a year to two years ago.
Persaud said the downturn in the economy was a factor but the big problem was the taxes and duties.
He said the last price increase had the most impact with a carton of cigarettes going up by at least $15.
He noted that he had no challenges with people not wanting to step outside to smoke.
“They comply with the rules,” he said. (LK)