Call to stub out tobacco testing offer to students

An attempt to recruit Christchurch students to test cigarettes has sparked a Ministry of Health investigation.

Smokefree agencies are outraged by a Student Job Search advertisement looking to recruit 15 students to test a brand of cigarettes and provide feedback.There can be many cigarettes brands from which to choose for test , for example, Kiss cigarettes or Esse cigarettes.

A Ministry of Health spokeswoman said the local smokefree enforcement officer had been asked to investigate the "possible legal issues" raised by the trial.

"We are concerned by any activity that seeks to undermine the efforts, and the gains made so far, to further reduce the prevalence of smoking in New Zealand, particularly amongst young people," she said.

"The Ministry of Health aims to make smoking less appealing to young people, and this product test undermines that objective."

The ad asks for male and female smokers aged between 19 and 29.

Participants would go to an undisclosed central Christchurch location to collect the cigarettes and be paid $50 following a final interview.

The Press understands the brand is Benson and Hedges.

Action on Smoking and Health (ASH) director Ben Youdan said tertiary age students were particularly vulnerable to starting smoking.

"The tobacco industry is flashing the cash to entice them into `research' that will extract the secrets of exploiting this vulnerability. This is yet another example of tobacco companies deliberately targeting young people.

"Tobacco companies, of course, claim they do not do this, but paying university students to market-test their brands shows how important young people are to their business."

He said the law did allow for tobacco products to be given away.

"If there is a loophole in the law that allows for tobacco to be given away to research participants the upcoming Smoke-free Environments Amendment Bill needs to address this, along with other ways tobacco companies can market their product, particularly at youth."

Students are being recruited through People for Information for market research company Colmar Brunton.

Colmar Brunton was forced to apologise in October last year over a survey it sent out for British American Tobacco. The survey was sent to 10,000 people and said that depending on their answers, they could be asked to join a study involving smoking cigarettes.

About 20 people complained about the wording of the survey, which they believed encouraged people to smoke.

Colmar Brunton spokesman Chris Vaughan said the company did research for clients in accordance with "strict guidelines" to ensure recruitment for consumer research was limited to existing smokers aged over 18."The research in question is not aimed at Canterbury students or any university students," he said.

Smokefree Canterbury youth representative Sarah McCallum said she had not come across the ad on Student Job Search, but was disgusted by the idea of recruiting youth for a smoking trial."To think that they are trying to get young people to test new products is just disgusting and shouldn't be allowed," the 18-year-old said.

"Some of us need financial assistance and can get roped into things like this."

Fellow youth representative Kris Austin said the posting of the ad on SJS did not send a good message.

"It's like, `hey guys, do you want some money to try out some new poison?"' he said.

SJS chief executive Paul Kennedy said jobs could be posted on the site without staff viewing them.