Cigarette packs that are visible from behind the counter in convenience stores are now a thing of the past.

On World Tobacco Day May 31, the last phase of the Smoke-Free Ontario Act came into effect, prohibiting any retail display of tobacco products - including cigarettes, cigars, cigarillos, pipe tobacco and other specialty tobacco products, including chewing tobacco.

Tobacco use is one of the toughest addictions to break. It is the number one cause of preventable death in Ontario, responsible for 33 deaths every day. It costs Ontario an estimated $1.6 billion in direct healthcare costs and $4.4 billion in productivity losses each year.

"Tobacco manufacturers will no longer be able to use these tobacco displays as a way to market this deadly product to young people and tempt smokers who are trying to quit," said John Niddery, the tobacco program supervisor with the Simcoe Muskoka District Health Unit.

"When children see that wall of tobacco products in stores, they conclude that the whole world smokes," Niddery says. "It's a very powerful marketing tool. If it wasn't, tobacco companies wouldn't be paying for space in those displays for their products. And research has been done that proves those displays play a part in getting young people started with tobacco."

Tobacco retailers have been working diligently to prepare for the display ban by installing drawers or doors on their display shelves so that by May 31 all tobacco products in their stores are out of sight and out of mind. Simcoe Muskoka District Health Unit enforcement staff will be inspecting all retailers for compliance.

Stiff penalties can be imposed on retailers that break the new rule, and for repeat offenders there could be a prohibition from selling any tobacco for up to a year.

"I am expecting high compliance rates for this section of the Smoke-Free Ontario Act," Niddery says, "and a huge positive influence on the health of Ontario citizens".

The first sections of the Smoke-Free Ontario Act, including smoking bans in public places, came into effect in 2006.

For more information about tobacco product laws, programs to help smokers quit and other related services, contact Your Health Connection at 721-7520 or 1-877-721-7520, or visit the health unit's website