The 13th World Conference on Tobacco OR Health

Objective: In 1997, Taiwan enacted the Tobacco Control Act. In order to evaluate the law enforced by 25 local governments, Bureau of Health Promotion authorizes Consumers Organization to implement the field survey.

Methods: 1. Testing Articles – (1) To sell tobacco through ways which the age of the purchaser cannot be identified. ( 2) To carry health warning, and nicotine and tar levels on cigarette packs. ( 3) To promote or advertise tobacco products. (4) To sell tobacco products to people under 18. (5) To mark prohibited smoking places and segregated areas. 2. Sampling -- Adopting the three-phrase stratified sampling, (1) To pick up 2 districts per city. (2) In each picked district, randomly to pick up 3 streets. (3) Based on 80% confidence level, to investigate 20 spots in each districts. 3. Field Survey -- To send two investigators to each city to do the survey without pre-warning. Students (age 19) wore junior high school uniforms to buy tobacco to test whether stores sell tobacco products to minors. Totally, 900 copies of valid investigating sheets in the 25 cities are accomplished.

Results: The average passing rate of each Article is 82.8%. The passing rate is 100% for not selling tobacco products through ways which age of purchasers cannot be identified. 81% of stores against the law sell tobacco products to minors. The average rate of breaking the law in the five biggest chain stores is 76.7%. The passing rate is 96.7% for promoting or advertising tobacco products.