The measure would require stores to post the pictures of black lungs and other images wherever tobacco products are displayed, and at the cash register or point of purchase. Some of the graphic images are as large as three feet square.
Although the proposal is confined to New York City, it has statewide implications for c-stores, NYACS said.
The group cited three main concerns:
Timing. After years of struggle, public health advocates finally won congressional approval for the Food & Drug Administration (FDA) to regulate tobacco nationwide. "The FDA is about to plant your flag at the summit of Mount Everest, but it seems like suddenly you're elbowing them out of the way to get there first. We don't understand the rush to unilaterally enact rules that are bound to be inconsistent in nature and timing with FDA guidelines," wrote NYACS president James Calvin.
Small Business Impact. Calvin said the Board of Health, which held a public hearing on the proposal Thursday, should examine it not only as a public health issue, but a small business issue as well. "It's not just that the proposed number, size and placement of the signs amount to a seizure of prime retail space used for promotional messages and product displays," he wrote. "If ghoulish pictures of black lungs dominate the view of our counter, they will be seen not only by adult tobacco customers, but by nonsmokers entering the store to buy milk, produce, candy, beverages, newspapers, lottery and everything else we sell. And these images are going to turn them off to coming into our store."
He added, "Consequently, some nontobacco customers will stop coming in altogether, costing us business. Perhaps nobody has thought through this scenario. Then again, maybe the amendment is strategically designed to /create/ that scenario, coercing retailers to quit selling tobacco just to spare their customers the sight of gruesome images every time they buy a Win-4
ticket or a bottle of water. I hope that's not the intent, because it would border on regulatory extortion."
Double Standard. The proposed amendment adds to the regulatory double standard that has long existed between licensed, tax-collecting, law-abiding retail stores and our unlicensed, unregulated, untaxed competitors.
Calvin asked the Board of Health if it is also going to require nearby Native American smoke shops on Long Island, Internet tobacco websites, black-market tobacco traders to display the health warning signs, noting that half the cigarettes consumed by New Yorkers are purchased from these unlicensed, unregulated untaxed channels.
"This tax evasion epidemic will only worsen as licensed, tax-collecting stores drop the tobacco category. In other words, this regulation is certain to chase more tobacco sales into the arms of the unregulated," he argued.
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