For Immediate Release:
Thursday, February 20, 2020
Contact:
James Garrow
215-200-7901
james.garrow@phila.gov
New Study Shows Significant Decline in Tobacco Retailer Density in Philadelphia
PHILADELPHIA—The American Journal of Public Health published a study that showed that Philadelphia’s new tobacco license regulations have effectively reduced the tobacco retailer density by 20%, resulting in 659 fewer licensed tobacco retailers. Prior to the regulations, Philadelphia had the highest tobacco retailer density of any big city in the country. Within Philadelphia, lower income neighborhoods had a higher density than wealthier neighborhoods. The benefits of the new regulations were greatest in low-income areas, and over time, may reduce neighborhood disparities in tobacco retailer density. The study also found that over 84,000 youth from over 200 schools had less exposure to tobacco after the new 500-foot smoke-free school zones were enacted.
Dr. Hannah Lawman, Director of Research and Evaluation for the Division of Chronic Disease and Injury Prevention at the Philadelphia Department of Public Health and the study’s lead author said, “This amounts to over 650 fewer places allowed to sell tobacco. This is impressive and incredibly important for Philadelphia’s health, especially for low-income neighborhoods that are disproportionately affected from tobacco being everywhere.”
The Board of Health passed the tobacco retailer density regulations in December 2016. The regulations included 4 limits on permits with a grandfathering clause for existing retailers:
- a new density cap of 1 tobacco permit per 1,000 daytime population for each of the 18 city planning districts,
- smoke-free school zones that prohibit new tobacco retailers within 500 feet of school property,
- an increase in the licensing fee from $50 to $300 to fund the compliance program,
- loss of tobacco sales privileges for repeated youth sales violations.
Researchers from the Philadelphia Department of Public Health, the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, and Temple University studied data from over 23,000 tobacco permits over 8 years to understand the effect of Philadelphia’s groundbreaking tobacco permit regulations. This study is the first to document the impact of tobacco density and school-zone restrictions and provides much needed data on this policy for other places considering this approach.
Philadelphia has the highest levels of smoking of the 10 largest cities, and each year tobacco is responsible for over 3,500 Philadelphia deaths—more lives than guns and opioids combined.
The study was published online ahead of print on February 20, 2020.
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