Year: 2013
Type: article
Abstract: Tobacco use remains the leading cause of preventabledeath in the United States, and the goal of comprehen-sive tobacco control is to reduce its harm to society. Help-ing smokers quit is insufficient—it is also critical to pre-vent young people from ever taking a puff on that first cigarette. Toward this aim, New York City has proposed to increase the legal age of sale for tobacco products from 18 to 21 years and to make it illegal for merchants to sell tobacco to persons younger than 21 years. The proposed policy is grounded in strong epidemio-logic evidence, given that nearly 90 % of adults who smoke on a daily basis had their first cigarette by age 18 years (1), and the transition from tobacco experimentation to regular use typically occurs during young adulthood (1, 2). More-over, as a means to reduce access to minors, it is important to consider that 90 % of cigarettes purchased for them are
Source: Annals of Internal Medicine
Authors: Michael B. Steinberg, Cristine D. Delnevo
Institution: Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey
Language: English
Subfield: Physiology
Field: Medicine
Domain: Health Sciences
Open Access status: bronze
Funder: National Cancer Institute
Award: Cancer Center Support Grant
OpenAlex ID: W2024877994