The minimum age to get cigarettes, e-cigarettes and different tobacco product are going to be raised to twenty one nationwide beneath the disbursal bill lapsed the Senate on week day in a very provision geared toward edge a surge in underage vaping.
If signed into law, the new restriction would go in Sept. Altria INC. and Reynold INC. the 2 biggest U.S. cig makers, each supported the age restriction, as did Juul Labs INC., the startup that has been darned by health officers for the increase in teenage e-cigarette use.
President Trump conjointly supported the bill. He 1st voiced support for it in November once backing an idea to drag all e-cigarettes from the U.S. market.
Nineteen states have already got passed laws raising the minimum tobacco purchase age to twenty one, together with California, Lone-Star State and NY, 3 of the foremost inhabited states within the U.S. Sixteen of the states have enforced the foundations.
U.S. cig sales are falling for many years. That decline accelerated within the past few years as e-cigarette sales took off, and also the new ordinance may hasten it even further: Among those that smoke cigarettes daily, eighty seven percent used a cig by age eighteen, in step with a 2014 doctor General report.
About 5% of cigarette smokers are between 18 and 20 years old, but they represent only 2% or 3% of U.S. cigarette unit sales, because this age group smokes fewer cigarettes a day than the national average.