Jersey's senior health official is pressing for a ban on tobacco advertising.

Health president Stuart Syvret's move follows the signing of a treaty this year by almost 200 countries against smoking. The UK Government in February banned all cigarette adverts in the media, and Mr Syvret said it was "only a matter of time" before tobacco advertising was banned in Jersey. He would be bringing the matter up in the States in the near future. 'Destructive habit' He said: "We don't sign international conventions on our own behalf. "We join up through the United Kingdom, but the health committee is planning to propose very shortly that the States adopt these kind of measures. "Smoking is an extremely destructive habit, and society has now recognised that there needs to be a focused strategy to combat smoking." Measures would include tougher laws against the sale of tobacco to children and raising the legal age for smoking from 16 to 18. Taxes could also rise on tobacco. Young influenced "The evidence is that if you increase taxes, then the number of people who smoke falls," he said. "A 5% increase in price may not equate to a 5% reduction in the number of people smoking - it may be smaller - but nevertheless the effect is there." Conny Le Sueur, chair of the Jersey branch of anti-tobacco campaigning group, Ash, said: "We strongly believe that a ban on tobacco advertising will result in a reduction in smoking. "In a local survey we found that nearly half of 12 to 13-year-olds and a third of 14 to 15-year-olds said they think that cigarette advertising influences young people to start smoking." Guernsey, which banned tobacco advertising in 1997, had seen a reduction in young people taking up smoking. Ms Sueur said: "I think we really have to follow suit, or we will be left behind."

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