烟草在线据哥伦比亚广播公司报道编译　　纽约市长迈克尔·彭博正在发起一轮新的保护健康的攻势。彭博希望使纽约成为美国第一个禁止在商店内展示卷烟的城市。加拿大、澳大利亚和欧洲的部分国家已经实施了类似的禁令。但纽约将成为美国第一个执行这样禁令的城市。

　　彭博政府说，经常接触被展示烟草产品的儿童开始吸烟的可能性要大2.5倍。彭博说：“烟草产品被展示出来表明，吸烟是一种正常的活动，展示烟草产品会招致青年人去体验烟草。”

　　卷烟应该被藏到看不见的地方，不过，店内的卷烟广告则不必藏起来。纽约市还有权关闭反复被抓住出售走私卷烟的商店。

　　彭博说：“这是件重要的事情。不要犯错误。”

　　彭博的提议立刻遭到了纽约便民店协会的批评。该组织说：“强制有经营许可证的、纳税守法的零售商将烟草存货藏起来的这种想法显然十分可笑。在饮品中心看到啤酒并没有让孩子开始喝酒，在酒铺看到彩票并没有让孩子们开始赌博，看到药店里的避孕套并没有让孩子们发生婚前性行为，可卷烟货架却显然拥有心灵感应的力量。”

　　纽约电台WNYC负责卫生保健与医药报道的记者弗瑞德·谋格尔说：“显然，彭博市长激起了众怒。很多人都很关切——这是政府要扮演的角色吗？”

　　谋格尔说，彭博市长已经将纽约市变成了一个新奇公共健康计划的孵化器。一些公共健康计划已经执行，比如规定菜单上要打上卡路里计数，禁止在很多公共场所吸烟，等等。另一些计划，如最近被驳回的关于禁止含糖饮料的计划，则没有被实施。

　　谋格尔说：“我跟公共健康领域里人们进行了交谈，他们担心，他们的这个黄金时代可能就要终结，说得婉转一些，就是担心往后不管出现什么措施，彭博市长都会非常坚定地复制。”

　　纽约市成年人的吸烟率从2002年的21.5%下降到了2011年的14.8%。最新的反吸烟措施还需要得到市长委员会的批准才能成为法律——这是大型苏打水禁令也尚未完成的程序。

评论：

　　纽约市长彭博因推行一系列“突破性政策”而备受争议：禁售大容量含糖饮料、收取拥堵费、海滩和公园禁烟、禁止商店展示烟草产品，等等。这些措施被许多人所不理解、反对，甚至纽约市长本人也被取笑“想当保姆”、管得太细，但是这些反对的声音都不能阻止市长推出新政的决心。其实，纽约市长的这一片苦心应当被理解，这些新政都是为了纽约市民的健康着想，虽然会触动某些人的利益，但大众健康却应该是放在首位的。健康无小事，一个小的习惯的改变就可能会对一个人的健康影响深远。纽约市长负责任的态度值得称赞，通过细节来保卫健康，最终受益的还是公众。

Bloomberg Tobacco Initiative Slammed by N.Y. Convenience Stores

　　New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg is launching a new health offensive. Bloomberg hopes to make New York the first city in the country to ban in-store cigarette displays. Similar bans have already been implemented in Canada, Australia and parts of Europe. But New York would be the first city in the U.S. to implement a ban.

　　The Bloomberg administration says children who are frequently exposed to tobacco product displays are two-and-a-half times more likely to start smoking. Bloomberg has said, "Such displays suggest that smoking is a normal activity and they invite young people to experiment with tobacco."

　　Cigarettes would be hidden from view, though in-store cigarette ads would not. The city would also have the power to close stores repeatedly caught selling smuggled cigarettes.

　　"This is a big thing," Bloomberg said. "Make no mistake."

　　The proposals were immediately criticized by the New York Association of Convenience Stores. "The notion of forcing licensed, tax-collecting, law-abiding retailers to hide their tobacco inventory is patently absurd," the group said. "Seeing beer in a beverage center doesn't make (kids) start drinking, seeing lottery tickets in a bodega doesn't make them start gambling, seeing condoms in a pharmacy doesn't make them engage in premarital sex, but that cigarette rack apparently has telepathic powers."

　　Fred Mogul, health care and medicine reporter for the New York radio station WNYC, said, "Obviously Mayor Bloomberg has ruffled a lot of feathers. A lot of people are concerned -- is this a role that the government has to play?"

　　Mogul says the mayor has turned New York City into an incubator for novel public health initiatives. Some have been implemented, like mandating calorie counts on menus and prohibiting smoking in many public places. Others, like the recently overturned ban on large sugary drinks, have not.

　　Mogul said, "People in public health that I've talked to are concerned that this golden age for them might be coming to an end, that whatever follows Mayor Bloomberg will be very tough to replicate, to put it mildly."

　　The adult smoking rate in the city is down from 21.5 percent in 2002, to 14.8 percent in 2011. The latest anti-smoking measures will have to be passed by the city council in order to become law -- something that wasn't done with the jumbo soda ban.