Total ban on tobacco advertising by 2000

THE ADVERTISING ban on cigarettes is to be brought forward to the millennium as part of a comprehensive package of measures to curb smoking in Britain.

The decision to bring forward the ban by at least a year will be announced next week in a government White Paper on smoking. Under an European Union directive, advertising of tobacco products on billboards could have continued until 2001.

The Government is also expected to announce a campaign to help smokers give up. Family doctors will be given powers to give nicotine gum and nicotine patches to those on low incomes at special clinics.

Nicotine gum and patches will not be put on general prescription, because of ministers' fears over costs. But it is likely that there will be limited moves to enable those on low incomes - who are among the most tenacious smokers - to get supplies at less than the pounds 6 a pack charged over the counter by chemists.

There will be no ban on smoking in pubs, bars or restaurants, but more no-smoking areas will be encouraged. The Health and Safety at Work Act will be used to enforce no-smoking bans in the workplace, particularly in small offices, to protect workers from health risks.

The White Paper will mark a dramatic shift in attitude within the National Health Service towards treatment of smoking as an illness, similar to that of alcohol or drug addiction. Officials said an estimated seven out of ten smokers wanted to give up, if they could get help.

The Medicines Control Agency has also approved the lifting of the ban on selling nicotine gum in corner shops. Now, it can only be sold in pharmacists, but it is likely to be made more widely available in shops and possibly pubs.

The Public Health minister, Tessa Jowell, who refused to disclose details of the White Paper when she was challenged on BBC radio yesterday, is keen to avoid being accused of running a "nanny state" and has steered clear of general bans on smoking in public places.

Most of the action will be voluntary, and curbs on tobacco advertising will be enforced under EU directives. None of the measures will require primary legislation. The Government will seek to curb advertising in shops to meet its manifesto commitment to impose a ban without exemptions.

There will also be action to limit the so-called "indirect brand stretching" of tobacco products with marketing of fashion goods under the same name, such as Marlboro and Camel. But there will be no change in the EU directive plans to ban tobacco sponsorship of sports by 2003 and world events, such as Formula One car racing by 2006.

Clive Bates, of the anti-smoking charity Ash, said: "If these reports are true, it will be the first serious broad-based attempt to reverse the toll of unnecessary illness and death since the scientists first warned of the dangers in the Fifties."

The Government will claim the moves put Britain at the leading edge of international efforts to reduce tobacco use. It will form part of a public health strategy to be outlined in a second White Paper next autumn.