Research by UNC’s Ribisl impacts newly adopted federal tobacco legislation
| March 31, 2010 | |
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President Barack Obama has signed into law the Prevent All Cigarette Trafficking (PACT) Act, which aims to prevent tobacco sales to minors and curtail the growing sales of low-cost cigarettes and other tobacco products over the Internet and through the mail.
Dr. Kurt Ribisl and Dr. Rebecca Williams
Research efforts by Kurt Ribisl, PhD, associate professor of health behavior and health education at The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill’s Gillings School of Global Public Health, and alumna Rebecca Williams, PhD, research associate at the UNC Center for Health Promotion and Disease Prevention, were instrumental in adoption of the legislation. The PACT Act will require Internet sellers to pay all taxes before delivery to customers, verify age and identification of purchasers, and comply with state and local laws of customers. It also bans the delivery of tobacco products through U.S. mail.
Ribisl was principal investigator of the Internet Cigarette Vendors (ICV) study, funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. Williams, co-investigator of the study, conducted research with Ribisl as part of her doctoral dissertation. The study provided important statistics that helped shape the breakthrough federal policy.
Ribisl was invited to brief the Congressional Task Force on Tobacco and Health in August 2006. At that time, he reported on one of his studies showing Internet vendors sold to minors aged 11 to 15 in 92 percent of purchase attempts.
Another purchase study led by Williams found that of 101 purchase attempts, online vendors never properly verified buyer age or filed required taxation reports. Collecting cigarette taxes is important, he said, because the funds often are earmarked by state governments for cancer screening and tobacco control measures. Higher cigarette taxes also discourage youth smoking initiation and encourage quitting.
The ICV study also was featured in the fall 2009 issue of Carolina Public Health magazine.”We’ve made outstanding progress in reducing tobacco use by increasing cigarette taxes and blocking sales to minors,” Ribisl said. “We are pleased that the new legislation will help ensure that the Internet does not facilitate tax evasion or serve as an easy and cheap source of cigarettes for children.”
Read more about the PACT Act online.
UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health contact: Ramona DuBose, director of communications, (919) 966-7467 or ramona_dubose@unc.edu. |
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