FDA
TALK PAPER

Food and Drug Administration
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
Public Health Service 5600 Fishers Lane Rockville, MD 20857
FDA Talk Papers are prepared by the Press Office to guide FDA personnel in responding with consistency and accuracy to questions from the public on subjects of current interest. Talk Papers are subject to change as more information becomes available. 
                                                        
T98-43                         Print Media:         301-827-6242
July 15, 1998                  
                               Consumer Inquiries:  800-532-4440

FDA PARTNERS WITH MINNESOTA TO PROTECT CHILDREN FROM TOBACCO

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has renewed its contract with the State of Minnesota to enforce FDA's new regulation that prohibits retailers from selling cigarettes and smokeless tobacco products to children under 18.

Under the contract, the State of Minnesota will receive $276,456 to conduct 4,080 unannounced retail compliance checks over the next 12 months. Minors in typical dress, accompanied by an adult, will attempt to purchase cigarettes or spit tobacco in retail stores throughout the State of Minnesota.

Information about the compliance checks will be sent to FDA, which will issue a warning for the first violation to retailers found selling to the adolescents. These retailers will be subject to repeat inspections. FDA will seek a fine of $250 for the second violation, $1,500 for the third, $5,000 for the fourth, and $10,000 for the fifth.

The first provisions of FDA's final rule to protect children from tobacco took effect Feb. 28, 1997, making age 18 the national minimum age to purchase tobacco products and requiring retailers to check photo IDs of anyone under age 27. These measures are part of a comprehensive program designed to reduce by half the number of young people who smoke in the next seven years. FDA published the final rule Aug. 28, 1996, with provisions that limit access by children and adolescents to tobacco products and reduce the appeal these products have for underage smokers.

On April 25, 1997, the Federal District Court in Greensboro, N.C., ruled that FDA has jurisdiction under the Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act to regulate nicotine-containing cigarettes and smokeless tobacco. The court upheld all restrictions involving youth access and labeling, including the two provisions that went into effect Feb. 28. The case is currently on appeal.

Children and adolescents have long had easy access to tobacco products. In 13 studies reviewed by the Surgeon General, minors were successfully able to buy cigarettes 67 percent of the time.

In fact, 3,000 children and adolescents become regular smokers every day, and nearly 1,000 will die prematurely from a smoking-related disease.

The State of Minnesota is one of 53 states and territories that are eligible to contract with FDA. FDA will use a portion of the $34 million it has budgeted this year to assist states in enforcing the regulation and to educate retailers and the general public on the new provisions that went into effect in last February. President Clinton has requested $134 million for tobacco regulation in his FY 1999 budget submission to Congress.

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