“Tobacco smoke has been known to trigger and cause sudden heart attacks and deaths. Tobacco smoke contains more than 7,000 chemicals. Smoking has been linked to many cancers including lung, esophagus, larynx, mouth, and many more.”
Recently, on December 20th, 2019 President Donald Trump signed a $1.4 trillion spending package and amendment to the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act which immediately raised the minimum age of tobacco product sales that would raise the age for buying tobacco to 21 instead of 18 in the United States. This includes cigarettes, tobacco, and e-cigarettes.
There have already been many states that have raised the minimum age of buying tobacco products to 21 such as AR, CA, CT, DE, HI, IL, ME, MD, MA, NJ, NY, OH, OR, PA, TX, UT, VT, VA and WA. As of December 2019, all of these states, and Washington, DC, and more than 500 cities and towns also have also raised the legal age.
www.wtoc.com
Announcements from Trump administration officials stated that, “the agency would remove all non-tobacco-flavored vaping products from the market” amid concerns about youth vaping level and outbreaks of vaping-related lung injuries.
Nearly all smokers start smoking as kids or young adults, so with the benefit of raising the age limit of tobacco purchases, it’s said that it would, “reduce the likelihood that a high school student will be able to legally purchase tobacco products for other students and underage friends. The age raise would do many different things for our future. It could prevent people from smoking when they’re under 21. Many people will choose not to pick up on smoking, even when they’re of legal age to purchase. It would also “reduce health care costs caused by tobacco use.”
According to a 2015 report from the National Academy of Medicine, nationwide, it could prevent 223,000 deaths among people born between 2000 and 2019, including 50,000 fewer dying from lung cancer, the nation’s leading cancer killer.
Alexandra "Alex" is a junior at Sahuaro High School and this is her second year as a reporter for The Paper Cut. She has been going to Sahuaro for three...
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