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© 2002 American Public Health Association
RESEARCH AND PRACTICE |
The authors are with the Department of Health Behavior and Health Education, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Public Health, Chapel Hill, NC. Kurt M. Ribisl is also with the Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center, University of North Carolina School of Medicine.
Correspondence: Requests for reprints should be sent to Kurt M. Ribisl, PhD, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, School of Public Health, Department of Health Behavior and Health Education, Chapel Hill, NC 27599-7440 (e-mail: kurt_ribisl{at}unc.edu).
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INTRODUCTION |
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 TOP INTRODUCTION References |
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With the emergence of Web sites selling tobacco products, there is concern that they may be selling tobacco products to minors. A 1997 report identified 13 Internet cigarette vendors and found that few asked or attempted to verify the buyer's age.1 Similarly, a study of 108 Internet cigar vendors found that only one third featured minimum age-of-sale warnings.2 The goal of the present study was to examine whether Internet vendors take adequate precautions to avoid selling cigarettes to minors.
Data were collected as part of a larger study on the sales practices of 88 Internet cigarette vendors that is described elsewhere.3 Trained raters examined all pages of each Web site for minimum age-of-sale warnings and age verification and payment methods.
Table 1
shows that 82% of the sites (n = 72) featured one or more age warnings that the buyer must be 18 years or older to purchase cigarettes. Age warnings appeared mostly on the home pages of the Web sites (n = 43); only one third featured a warning on the ordering page. The most common age verification method was self-verification, whereby potential buyers clicked a box stating that they were of legal age to purchase tobacco products (n = 43) or typed in their birthdate (n = 13). Only 8 sites featured the more rigorous age verification method of requiring a driver's license number that could be verified by the vendor. Only 6 Internet cigarette vendors stated that they required photographic age identification at point of delivery, the prevailing standard at retail outlets.
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The results of our study suggested that most Internet cigarette vendors use inadequate procedures for age verification. Youths who misrepresent their age and obtain a money order could potentially purchase cigarettes on-line without difficulty. According to the State Youth Tobacco Surveys, 1.0% was the medium percentage of middle school and 1.4% was the medium percentage of high school current smokers who reported purchasing their last pack of cigarettes on the Internet.4 Similar findings were described in a study of California high school students.5
One limitation of this study was that we assessed the specified age verification methods, but these may differ markedly once orders are placed. Some sites may verify age on delivery, even though this information is not explicitly stated on their Web site. Likewise, some sites that mentioned having age verification procedures may not actually impose them.
Substantial efforts have been made to prevent youth access to tobacco products from retail outlets,6–8 including laws requiring in-person photographic age verification at the point of sale.9 However, no federal laws ban the sale of tobacco products to minors through the Internet, and only a few states have attempted regulation. Rhode Island, for instance, banned Internet and mail-order sales of cigarettes without age verification at delivery.10,11 Parent-controlled filtering and blocking software is not a viable solution for restricting youth access to Internet cigarette vendors because most of these programs do not block tobacco sites12 and because none of the sites in this study were registered with parent-controlled access-filtering software sites. The findings of this study, combined with new data showing that youths are beginning to buy cigarettes via the Internet, emphasize the need for the passage and enforcement of policies to restrict youth access to tobacco products through this venue.
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Footnotes |
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K. M. Ribisl conceived the idea for the research, directed the study, contributed to the interpretation of the data, and wrote the first draft of the report. A. E. Kim and R. S. Williams contributed to the study design and measurement and collected the data. A. E. Kim contributed to the writing and editing of the report, and R. S. Williams analyzed the data.
Accepted for publication December 18, 2001.
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References |
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TOPINTRODUCTIONReferences |
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1. Alcohol and Tobacco on the Web: New Threats to Youth. Washington, DC: Center for Media Education; March 1997.
2.
Malone RE, Bero LA. Cigars, youth, and the Internet link. Am J Public Health.2000;90:790–792.
3.
Ribisl KM, Kim AE, Williams RS. Web sites selling cigarettes: how many are there in the USA and what are their sales practices? Tob Control.2001;10:352–359.
4. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Youth tobacco surveillance, United States, 2000. MMWR Morb Mortal Wkly Rep.2001;50(SS-4):1–84.[Medline]
5.
Unger JB, Rohrbach LA, Ribisl KM. Are adolescents attempting to buy cigarettes on the Internet? Tob Control.2001;10:360–363.
6.
Feighery E, Altman DG, Shaffer G. The effects of combining education and enforcement to reduce tobacco sales to minors: a study of four northern California communities. JAMA.1991;266:3168–3171.
7. Forster JL, Wolfson M. Youth access to tobacco: policies and politics. Annu Rev Public Health.1998;19:203–235.[Medline]
8.
Jason LA, Ji PY, Anes MD, Birkhead SH. Active enforcement of cigarette control laws in the prevention of cigarette sales to minors. JAMA.1991;266:3159–3161.
9. Fishman JA, Allison H, Knowles SB, et al. State laws on tobacco control—United States, 1998. MMWR Morb Mortal Wkly Rep.1999;48(SS-03):21–62.
10. Lehourites C. R.I. restricts Internet tobacco sales. Associated Press. October 26, 2000.
11. Scherer R. States crack down on Web tobacco sales. Christian Science Monitor. November 8, 2000:2.
12. Youth Access to Alcohol and Tobacco Web Marketing: The Filtering and Rating Debate. Washington, DC: Center for Media Education; 1999.
Related articles in AJPH:
- Tobacco and the Media
- Jennifer Ellis and Mary E. Northridge
AJPH 2002 92: 895.[Extract] [Full Text]
This article has been cited by other articles:
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  J. G. Hodge Jr. and G. B. Eber Tobacco Control Legislation: Tools for Public Health Improvement J. Law Med. Ethics, September 1, 2004; 32(3): 516 - 523. [PDF]
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 M Hrywna, C D Delnevo, and D Staniewska Prevalence and correlates of internet cigarette purchasing among adult smokers in New Jersey Tob. Control, September 1, 2004; 13(3): 296 - 300. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
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 K. M. Ribisl, R. S. Williams, and A. E. Kim Internet Sales of Cigarettes to Minors JAMA, September 10, 2003; 290(10): 1356 - 1359. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
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K M Ribisl The potential of the internet as a medium to encourage and discourage youth tobacco use Tob. Control, June 1, 2003; 12(90001): i48 - 59. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
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