Assessing contraband tobacco in two jurisdictions: a direct collection of cigarette butts

BMC Public Health

Research Article

Sarah Edwards¹  Alexey Babayan¹  Adam Stevens¹  Samantha Shiplo¹  Julie Stratton²  Megan Ward² 

[1] Brant County Health Unit, 194 Terrance Hill Street, N3R 1G7, Brantford, ON, Canada;Peel Public Health, 7120 Hurontario Street, L5W 1N4, Mississauga, ON, Canada;

关键词: Tobacco products;    Contraband tobacco;    Smoking behaviours;    Smoking-prevention and control;    Tobacco industry;    Unobtrusive observation;    Public health;   

DOI  :  10.1186/s12889-016-3229-0

 received in 2016-02-24, accepted in 2016-06-24,  发布年份 2016

来源: Springer

【 摘 要 】

BackgroundThe sale of contraband tobacco allows for tobacco tax evasion, which can undermine the effectiveness of tobacco tax policies in reducing the number of smokers. Estimates of the proportion of contraband vary widely as do the methods used to measure the proportion of contraband being smoked. The purpose of this study is to determine the proportion of contraband use in two different jurisdictions.MethodsA cross-sectional direct collection of cigarette butts was conducted in Peel and Brantford, Ontario, Canada in 2013 and 2014, respectively. Cigarette butts were collected from a variety of locations within both regions. Cigarette butts were assessed and classified into one of the following categories: contraband, legal Canadian, legal Native, International, unknown, and discards.ResultsThe overall proportion of contraband cigarettes in Peel was 5.3 %, ranging from 2.8 to 8.6 % by location. In Brantford, the proportion of contraband was 33.0 %, with a range from 32.8 to 33.1 % by location.ConclusionsThe direct collection of cigarette butts was determined to be a feasible method for a local public health unit in determining the proportion of contraband cigarettes. This approach showed that Brantford has a higher proportion of contraband consumption compared to Peel, which may be due to geographic location and proximity to the United States (US)-Canada border and Native Reserves. More research is needed to confirm this geographic association with other jurisdictions.

【 授权许可】

CC BY   
© The Author(s). 2016