UNC Center for Health Promotion and Disease Prevention study impacts tobacco legislation
| March 31, 2010 | |
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The U.S. Senate cited the UNC Center for Health Promotion and Disease Prevention‘s Internet Cigarette Vendors (ICV) study in its unanimous decision to pass the Prevent All Cigarette Trafficking (PACT) Act, which aims to curtail the growing sales of tax-evading, low-cost cigarettes and other tobacco products over the Internet and through the mail.
Dr. Kurt Ribisl and Dr. Rebecca Williams — Photo by Annice Kim
The PACT Act will require Internet sellers to pay all taxes before delivery to customers, to verify age and identification of purchasers, and to comply with state and local laws of customers. It also bans the delivery of tobacco products through U.S. mail. The ICV study provided important statistics that helped shape this breakthrough federal policy. A PACT Act hearing referred to a 2006 ICV study which showed all 101 vendors sampled sold cigarettes without age verification. Rebecca Williams, PhD, research associate at the Center and co-investigator of the ICV study, wrote the study as part of her doctoral dissertation research.
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,” said Kurt Ribisl, PhD, principal investigator of the study and associate professor of health behavior and health education in the UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health. “We don’t want (these gains) unraveled by a new system of marketing and distribution through the Internet.”
The House of Representatives is expected to adopt the Senate bill and bill proponents hope President Obama will continue his strong leadership on tobacco control by signing the PACT Act into law.
Read more about the PACT Act online.
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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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