Lawmakers in Massachussets propose complete ban on sale of tobacco products

Lawmakers in Massachusetts are considering a statewide ban on the sale of cigarettes and other tobacco products to people under age 21.

The debate in the senate is scheduled for Thursday. The lawmakers are proposing to raisde the minimum age for purchasing tobacco from 18 to 21, in a bid to discourage more young people from taking up smoking.

The bill would allow people who turned 18 before 1 January, 2017, to continue buying tobacco. The legislation would include provisions for regulations for e-cigarettes and a ban on the sale of tobacco products at all health care institutions.

Republican governor Charlie Baker said Friday that he supported the concept.

Meanwhile, though many forms of e-cigarette advertising increased the odds that teens would try the devices, according to a new study, the digitally savvy generation was most swayed by promotions they saw online.

Big US tobacco companies were all developing e-cigarettes and the battery-powered gadgets featured a glowing tip and a heating element that vapourised nicotine and other flavourings for users to inhale.

To see which e-cigarette ad formats most appealed to teens, researchers analysed data from a recent nationwide survey of about 22,000 middle school and high school students from grades 6 through 12, when youth were typically about 12 to 18 years old.

The researchers found that middle school kids who viewed e-cigarette ads online, were almost three times more likely to use the devices than their peers who never saw ads. High school students who watched online ads frequently were about twice more likely to use e-cigarettes.

''E-cigarette ads use many of the same themes used to sell cigarettes and other conventional tobacco products, such as independence, rebellion and sex,'' said lead study author Dr Tushar Singh of the Office on Smoking and Health at the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta.

''The situation is compounded by the fact that e-cigarette online vendors are using social network services to market their products – and many online vendor websites are very easy for youth to enter and make purchases,'' Singh added by email.