Butt Out Stuart Barber: Ban On Cigarette Machines Creates Obesity
“MACHINES threaten to undermine the law,” says Stuart Barber, quoted in the Daily Mirror.
That’s machines for you – always mouthing off about how they’re going to do this and do that.
So why is Mr Barber so bothered? Because he works for the British Heart Foundation, and he is supporting a private member’s bill to outlaw cigarette machines.
The threat to the law, as things stand, is that children can purchase their fags from these machines, who are happy to cough up their contents to anyone who feeds their slot, regardless of age.
You don’t have to be as old as Old Mr Anorak to remember the days when newsagents sold “singles” (individual cigarettes) to children whose pocket money didn’t stretch to a packet of ten “Number 6”. Nowadays, however, kids can easily afford a fiver for 20, and the machines are happy to meet this demand.
No doubt the parliamentary bill will be passed easily, and the vending machines will be removed from playgrounds and classrooms. And then the kids can start doing what everyone does when they give up the fags: pile on the pounds and increase their risk of heart disease.
And then where will we be, Mr Barber?
Posted: 12th, November 2007 | In: Tabloids Comments (9) | TrackBack | Permalink
