Adherence is generally high to tobacco control act provisions

(HealthDay)—Tobacco retailers are generally adherent to all provisions of the Tobacco Control Act, according to a study published in April issue of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Preventing Chronic Disease.

Shyanika W. Rose, from the University of North Carolina Gillings School of Public Health in Chapel Hill, and colleagues examined whether retailers were adherent to the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act, which regulates the sale and marketing of tobacco products, and assessed the differences in adherence by county, retailer neighborhood, and retailer characteristics. Tobacco retailers' adherence to 12 point-of-sale provisions was assessed in three North Carolina counties, based on an observational audit of 324 retailers during a three-month period in 2011.

The researchers found that 84.3 percent of retailers adhered to all provisions, while 15.7 percent did not adhere to one or more provisions. The ban on sales of cigarettes with modified-risk labels and the ban on self-service for cigarettes and smokeless tobacco were the most frequently violated provisions. The rates of non-adherence differed significantly by county and type of retailer. Compared with grocery stores, pharmacies and drug stores were more than three times as likely to be non-adherent.

"Most tobacco retailers have implemented regulatory changes without enforcement by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration," the authors write. "Monitoring rates of adherence by store type and locale (e.g., county) may help retailers comply with point-of-sale provisions."

Two authors disclose receiving compensation from a nonprofit distributor of store mapping and store audit tools not used in this study.