The Regulations Restricting the Sale and Distribution Of Cigarettes and Smokeless Tobacco To Protect Children and Adolescents

With the August 1996 publication of a final rule on tobacco in the Federal Register, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) will regulate the sale and distribution of cigarettes and smokeless tobacco to children and adolescents. The action results from the agency's assertion of jurisdiction over tobacco products. This was based on an intensive FDA investigation of the tobacco industry, tobacco use and its health consequences. The rule will prohibit the sale of cigarettes and smokeless …

…on January 1, 1971. Most of the provisions of this rule went into effect one year after publication in the Federal Register. There are two major exceptions: (1) Six months after publication, retailers must begin enforcing the 18-year-old minimum age of purchase provision by checking purchasers' identification; (2) because most sponsorship contracts are long term, companies will have two years to meet the sponsorship requirements which prohibit sponsorship of events in the name of a tobacco product. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ **Bibliography**