In the US, more than 3,200 youth under the age of 18 smoke their first cigarette, and more than 700 become daily cigarette smokers, the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA)said, outlining its measures to ensure that young people do not have easy access to tobacco products.

The FDA inspects tobacco retailers and maintains surveillance on their Web sites to ensure that retailers are not selling tobacco products to minors. In fact, it recently sent out warning letters to four online retailers because minors were able to purchase regulated tobacco products from their Web sites.

One way the FDA monitors for compliance is to check whether youth aged 16-17 are able to successfully buy tobacco products from a retailer. Federal regulations prohibit retailers, including online retailers, from selling these products to any person under the age of 18, it said.

While most retailers are actively working to keep tobacco out of the hands of kids, some continue to violate the law. As of August 1, 2014, FDA has conducted more than 324,000 inspections of tobacco product retail establishments and issued more than 17,600 warning letters to retailers for violating the law. More than half of those warning letters were for selling tobacco products to minors, the regulator said.

The USFDA’s tobacco compliance and enforcement programme ensures that industry and retailers follow existing laws designed to protect public health. While progress has been made in reducing the burden of tobacco use on the nation, it’s imperative that we end youth access to tobacco products, it added.

Source : USFDA

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