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The minimum age to purchase tobacco products and e cigarettes
should be 21 across the U.S. – Simi Valley Health
Most people who smoke started in their teens. While the number of kids trying tobacco for the first time has declined
since the 1970s, there are still new smokers every year and kids’ doctors want to do something about it.
Raise smoking age to 21 and regulate e-cigs, pediatricians urge
The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) came out with a strong new policy statement that urges policymakers to
raise the minimum age people could buy nicotine products, be they cigarettes or e-cigarettes, to 21.
Related: Are e-cigarettes a gateway device or a way to quit?
The public health benefits of barring people under age 21 from buying these products could be tremendous,
including “4.2 million fewer years of life lost” among the next generation of American adults, according to a report
released in March by the Institute of Medicine.
Setting a new minimum age nationwide, that study estimated, would result in nearly a quarter-million fewer
premature deaths and 50,000 fewer deaths from lung cancer among people born between 2000 and 2019.
Teenagers, especially those between ages 15 and 17, are most vulnerable to becoming addicted at a time when
their brains are still developing.
The study, conducted at the request of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, studied the predicted benefits of
raising the minimum legal age for buying tobacco products — currently 18 in most states — to 19, 21, and 25 years.
The greatest health benefits would actually come from raising the legal age even higher to 25, at which point the
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report estimates the prevalence of smokers among today’s teens, when they become adults, would decline by 16%.
The number of people who would not smoke if the age limit was raised to 21 is still significant. It’s estimated
smoking rates would fall to 12%.
Even though fewer teenagers are using tobacco than ever before, more than half of current smokers say they
started smoking before they were 18, studies show. And the number of teens who tried e-cigarettes and hookahs
tripled in one year. The AAP policy statement urges the U.S. Federal Food and Drug Administration to regulate ecigarettes and other electronic nicotine delivery systems the same as other tobacco products.
Chris Hansen of the American Cancer Society’s Cancer Action Network praised the study when it came out in
March, saying “powerful interventions are needed to keep youth from lifelong addictions to these deadly products.”
The American Academy of Pediatrics issued a statement calling the report “a crucial contribution to the debate on
tobacco access for young people.”
“There is no safe way to use tobacco,” said Dr. Sandra G. Hassink, the academy’s president.
The FDA cannot raise the age limit nationwide. The minimum age in four states is 19, and in several local
jurisdictions including New York City have raised the legal age to 21.
Historically, the tobacco industry has called for “responsible” consumption of tobacco products.
Companies should create more child-resistant packaging to keep curious kids from drinking the liquid nicotine used
in e-cigarettes, the AAP policy statement also said. In 2014, there were more than 3,000 e-cigarette calls to U.S.
poison centers. As little as half a teaspoon can kill an average-size toddler, according to the AAP. Liquid nicotine is
extremely toxic when ingested on its own.
“Tobacco is unique among consumer products in that it severely injures and kills when used exactly as intended,”
states the AAP policy statement. “Protecting children from tobacco products is one of the most important things that
a society can do to protect children’s health.”
Raise Smoking Age to 21, U.S. Pediatricians Urge
The minimum age to purchase tobacco products and e-cigarettes should be raised to 21 across the United States,
according to a new policy recommendation released Monday by the American Academy of Pediatrics.
The strong statement by the nation’s leading pediatricians group was among more than two dozen
recommendations aimed at tightening regulations on cigarettes, e-cigarettes and other tobacco and nicotine
products, to reduce youth smoking and nicotine addiction.
The group also called for the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to regulate e-cigarettes the same way it regulates
other tobacco products.
“Most adolescents don’t use just one nicotine product but will commonly use or experiment with several,” said Dr.
Harold Farber, lead author of two of the statements and a pediatric pulmonologist at Texas Children’s Hospital.
“Research to date shows that adolescents who experiment with e-cigarettes and conventional cigarettes are much
more likely to go on to become regular cigarette smokers and less likely to stop cigarette smoking.”
The new policies were presented Monday at the group’s national conference and published online simultaneously in
the journal Pediatrics.
Currently, only Hawaii and about 90 cities and communities in several other states have a law requiring a minimum
age of 21 to purchase tobacco products, according to the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids.
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“As the brain matures, the ability to make decisions with important health consequences should likewise improve,”
said Dr. Danelle Fisher, vice chair of pediatrics at Providence Saint John’s Health Center in Santa Monica, Calif.
“Thus, slightly older young adults may choose to forgo tobacco products,” suggested Fisher, who was not involved
with the new policy recommendations.
In addition, older teens often buy tobacco products for younger ones, Farber said. He added that communities
requiring buyers to be at least 21 have seen youth smoking rates drop.
Another policy recommendation aimed at reducing adolescents’ attraction to smoking, using hookah pipes or
“vaping” (the term for using e-cigarettes), would outlaw all flavors used in tobacco or nicotine products, including
menthol in cigarettes and the various flavors in e-cigarettes.
Doctors Group Recommends Raising Tobacco and E-Cig Age to 21
In new policies meant to protect children and adolescents from tobacco and nicotine, the American Academy of
Pediatrics (AAP) is recommending that the minimum age to buy tobacco products and e-cigarettes be increased to
21.
In three policy statements published Monday in the journal Pediatrics, the AAP offers its guidance on what should
happen within public policy, regulation and family counseling for reducing exposure and dependence on tobacco.
“This includes age restrictions, taxes, bans on advertising to youth, and bans on flavored products that are
particularly attractive to youth,” according to an AAP statement.
The organization recommends that the age at which people can purchase tobacco and e-cigarette products be
raised to 21, and it recommends that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) regulate e-cigarettes as they do
other products like conventional cigarettes. The AAP also says liquid nicotine poses serious consequences if in the
hands of a child. In 2014, the AAP reports that over 3,000 calls were made concerning liquid nicotine exposure.
In addition, the AAP raises doubts about the effectiveness and safety of e-cigarettes as quitting tools. The agency
says parents shouldn’t use e-cigarettes around their children, since the organization says the vapor from the ecigarettes can contain toxic chemicals.
“The developing brains of children and teens are particularly vulnerable to nicotine, which is why the growing
popularity of e-cigarettes among adolescents is so alarming and dangerous to their long-term health,” Dr. Karen M.
Wilson chair of the AAP Section on Tobacco Control said in a statement.
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