NORWICH – Local anti-tobacco advocates say that the Surgeon General’s Report on teen smoking today highlights a problem they’ve been talking about for some time: tobacco marketing targeting kids in convenience stores, pharmacies and other retail locations where tobacco is sold.

The report, titled Preventing Tobacco Use among Youth and Young Adults finds the nation is falling far short of our national youth smoking goals and calls for immediate and urgent action to protect children from the predatory marketing tactics of the tobacco industry.

“One way to reduce kids’ exposure to tobacco marketing is to prohibit the display of tobacco products in all retail establishments to which minors have access,” said James Mutabiilwa, Tobacco Free Chenango Coordinator at Chenango Health Network. “Abundant research, summarized in this latest report, shows that kids regularly exposed to retail tobacco displays are more likely to smoke.”