Nearly half of the stores recently inspected by the Consumers’ Foundation were found to be illegally selling cigarettes to minors, foundation officials said yesterday.
For the purposes of the inspection, minors dressed in senior high school uniforms were sent by the foundation to 235 stores around the country to try to buy cigarettes, acting chairman of the foundation Hsieh Tien-jen (謝天仁) said.
A total of 111, or 47.2 percent, of the stores sold cigarettes to the minors, Hsieh said.
PHOTO: HSU MIN-JONG, TAIPEI TIMES
Of the 235 stores, 147 were convenience stores. Of them, 22.4 percent failed to comply with the ban on the sale of cigarettes to minors, compared with 42.3 percent in a similar inspection conducted last year, Hsieh said.
Broken down by company, 19 percent of the 7-Eleven stores tested broke the law, 22.6 percent of FamilyMart stores violated the ban and 31.5 percent of OK Mart and Hi-Life stores failed to comply, he said.
Hsieh said that an amendment to the Tobacco Hazards Prevention Act (菸害防治法) set to come into effect on Jan. 1 will raise the fine for vendors violating the ban from NT$15,000 to NT$50,000.
He urged stores that sell cigarettes to educate their staff members.
Meanwhile, secretary-general of the foundation Yu Kai-hsiung (游開雄) said that one-third of young people who smoke are likely to die of smoking-related diseases.
He said that 90 percent of adult smokers came into contact with cigarettes before the age of 19.
Cigarettes are inexpensive in Taiwan, he said, being sold for as little as NT$50 a pack, which makes them much more accessible to young people than in other countries where they are sold at between NT$100 to NT$200 per pack.
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