One for every 113 inhabitants: cigarette vending machines in Germany

Abstract

Sirs—Prevalence of smoking is high in Germany 1 and young people, especially, show one of the highest smoking prevalences in Europe. 2 This is mainly due to the lack of efficient tobacco control measures in Germany, 3 e.g. the widespread availability of cigarettes through vending machines. Germany has probably the highest distribution of cigarette vending machines in the world per capita with 726 000 vending placed all over the country in 2004 4 : There is one cigarette vending machine for every 113 inhabitants. While 39.3% of these vending machines are located indoors, e.g. bars and restaurants with little social control for adolescents, the majority 60.7% is located outdoors. This is crucial because the use of these machines does not have any social control and, thus, cigarettes are easily available to children and adolescents also. Up to now, no data have been available on the cigarette purchase pattern of the German population. We carried out computer assisted face-to-face interviews with a representative sample of the German population. The data were collected in four separate waves in November 2004, April and August 2005, and in January 2006. The data were collected by trained interviewers belonging to a nationwide acting and experienced public opinion research institution (IPSOS) as part of a so-called omnibus survey. Besides general information on socio-demographic characteristics, data were collected on smoking status and other smoking-related variables. Purchase pattern of cigarettes was assessed by the question ‘Where do you buy your tobacco products?’ and the options petrol station, kiosk, supermarket, vending machine, friends, foreign country, and other places were given (multiple answers possible). A total sample of 12 218 persons aged 14–97 years was interviewed. Mean age of the sample was 47.62 years (SD 5 17.90). Females comprised 53.66% of the sample. A total of 3 602 persons (29.48% of the total sample) reported to be smokers. For the analyses the sample was assigned to three age groups: Adolescents, 14–17 years old; young adults, 18–25 years old; and adults, .25 years old. Smokers were asked where they purchase cigarettes. Results of the interviews are presented in Table 1. Significantly more young adults purchase cigarettes at petrol stations and in kiosks than the other age groups. Supermarket and ‘other places’ are more often mentioned as a source by adults than by adolescents and young adults. There is no difference between age groups for purchasing cigarettes in foreign countries. Significantly more adolescents (12.50%) than young adults (6.24%) or adults (3.27%) obtain cigarettes via their friends. Obtaining cigarettes through social sources has been reported consistently for adolescents. 5 A highly significant difference in the use of cigarette vending machines could be found for the three age groups: while 51.92% of the adolescent smokers use vending machines, only 38.00% of the young adult smokers and 28.06% of the adult smokers buy their cigarettes via machines. A new law for the protection of children and youth in Germany will be put into force from 2007 to control access to cigarettes by switching over all German vending machines from coins to charge cards only. This measure, however, is not sufficient to tackle the problem. In fact, this law will not lead to a substantial decrease in vending machines—the industry confirmed that there will be still 500 000 vending machines in operation from 2007 on— 6 and it is more than doubtful that the access to cigarettes will be more difficult for adolescents.