No single tactic can solve the problem of youth access to tobacco, and the most effective campaigns include retailer education, visits from law enforcement, and public information, according to researchers at the University of Oxford.

The Health Behavior News Service reported July 3 that a review of 35 previously published studies on preventing retail sales of tobacco products to minors found that while simply informing retailers about laws banning such sales had little effect, communities that took a multifaceted approach to the problem were more effective.

Researchers Lindsay Stead and Tim Lancaster compared various approaches to retailer compliance to perceived reductions in youth access to cigarettes and concluded that sting operations might not be the best way to reduce youth smoking.

"That's not a good way to measure real-life behavior," Stead said. "Put your money into community-wide efforts as well, instead of focusing on preventing the selling of tobacco to minors. If you can change community norms and reduce smoking among adults -- that will ultimately be more useful."

The research appears in the Cochrane Library.