Tobacco companies cut price of cigarettes

Tobacco firms are targeting financially vulnerable consumers with a range of cheap cigarettes, it has been reported.

Imperial Tobacco and Gallaher are both set to introduce cut-price brands, despite a government consultation that could result in stringent promotion and marketing guidelines for tobacco firms.

Introducing JPS Silver, Imperial Tobacco will put its £4.21 pack of 20 on the market next month.

Meanwhile, Gallaher, which makes the Benson & Hedges brand, will reduce the cost of its Sterling brand to £4.20, a reduction of seven per cent.

Amanda Sandford, research manager at Action on Smoking and Health, said: "Whenever the price of cigarettes falls, there is an impact on consumption – that hits poor people the hardest."

"This is bad news," she added.

On October 1st the Department of Health (DoH) began replacing the warnings on tobacco products with pictures of diseased lungs, throat cancer and corpses.

A spokesperson for the DoH said it would be a while before all cigarette packets carried the images.
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