Kids Know It's Not Cool to Smoke

If nothing else, it seems as if our children are learning from our mistakes when it comes to smoking and quitting smoking. Fewer and fewer kids want to do it. In the past 11 years, the sales of tobacco products to U.S. kids have steadily declined thanks to the Synar Amendment program, funded by a partnership between the federal and state governments. The program, which started in 1997, aims to end the illegal sale of tobacco products to minors.

In 2007, the national average of illegal tobacco sales to kids dropped to a new low of 10.5% compared to 40.1% in 1997. Almost every state has met the Synar Amendment program’s goal of having less than 20% of its retailers selling tobacco products to minors. In 1997, only four states met that goal, which just goes to show the ways everyone is cracking down on smoking. By 2007, more than half of the country had their sales of tobacco products to minors under 10%, with Mississippi having the lowest at 3.2%. Massachusetts had the highest sales of tobacco products to kids at 22.7%.

While it’s great that fewer retailers are selling cigarettes to kids, why were they doing it in the first place? [HealthDay]