In a quest to try to make the next generation tobacco-free, states are beginning to raise their minimum legal sales for all tobacco products – including vaping products – to 21.

Pennsylvania could soon be joining them.

The legal age now is 18. State Sen. Mario Scavello, R-Monroe County, is looking at proposing legislation that would make it illegal to sell all forms of tobacco products to anyone under 21.

This comes as the federal Food and Drug Administration this week proposed new rules to crackdown on the sale of flavored e-cigarettes that are enticing to minors, threatening to pull the products off the market if companies don’t comply.

Already, seven states have passed these so-called “Tobacco 21” laws that are similar to the one Scavello is proposing to put tobacco on par with the legal sales age for alcohol. Virginia became the latest last month to join California, New Jersey, Oregon, Hawaii, Maine and Massachusetts.

Utah and Illinois began jockeying this week to become the next to join this movement. In both states, bills to raise their legal age only need signatures from their governors to become law. Other states, including New York and Maryland, are looking to raise their legal tobacco sales age for tobacco as well to try to keep young people from ever starting to smoke.

Scavello credits a group of teenagers who visited him two years ago with interesting him in supporting raising the legal tobacco age.

It didn’t take too much convincing, he said.

Scavello attributes his father’s and father-in-law’s deaths to smoking. He also has seen the Institute of Medicine research that suggests that raising the age nationally to 21 would save more than 223,000 lives from smoking-related deaths.

The idea is drawing a positive reception from Gov. Tom Wolf and, perhaps more surprisingly, the tobacco industry itself.

E-cigarette use surging with teens

Research illustrating the harm caused by youth tobacco use is piling up.

The American Lung Association cites national data indicating virtually all adult smokers had their first cigarette before the age of 21; most before turning 18.

As for youth e-cigarette use, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s National Youth Tobacco Survey found high school e-cigarette use increased by 78 percent from 2017 to 2018, prompting it and the FDA to declare it an epidemic.

Raising the age to 21 would make it harder for 15- to 17-year-olds to be able to buy tobacco or vaping products because they would be less likely to pass for the higher legal age, advocates say. And it would help prevent high school teens from getting cigarettes from a classmate who is 18.

“If we can stop them early, I think we’re going to be ahead of the game,” Scavello said.

The governor is open to the idea.

In a statement, Wolf spokeswoman Sarah DeSantis said the governor “recognizes that numerous studies have shown tobacco products, including smokeless tobacco and e-cigarettes, are particularly harmful and addictive to youths and young adults. Adjusting the age to purchase tobacco products would require a change in legislation, and he is open to engaging in this conversation with the General Assembly.”

His secretary of health seconded that opinion.

“Smoking and vaping have a number of harmful effects, particularly on teens and young adults as studies have shown the brain is still developing under the age of 25,” Dr. Rachel Levine said. “The department wants everyone to be aware of the dangers of smoking, and would encourage conversations that would work to reduce the number of smokers, particularly among those under the age of 21.”

Most Pennsylvania voters support raising the age to buy tobacco, a factor that could help bolster support among lawmakers. According to a lung association survey of 3,016 registered voters last year, 68 percent said they favor or strongly favor a state law raising the age to 21.

The move has the backing of the tobacco industry. Both Richmond-based Altria Group Inc., one of the world’s largest producers of tobacco products, and San Francisco-based Juul Labs, a producer of vaping products, support raising the age to 21.

Both have indicated that curbing youth access to all tobacco products is a way for them to preserve their opportunity to offer reduced-risk products to adult tobacco consumers.

Anticipating opposition

Despite the industry’s support, lawmakers in West Virginia and Kentucky recently balked at raising the legal tobacco age to 21. Legislators in West Virginia raised arguments that Scavello said he anticipates hearing in Pennsylvania about being able to vote and serve in the military at 18 but not being allowed to buy tobacco.

In West Virginia, a lawmaker also raised a concern about the law not being enforced against tobacco sales to people under 18 so a higher age limit is unlikely to be enforced either. At the same time, Hawaii has a proposal to ratchet up the minimum legal tobacco age to 100 by 2024.

Some also may point out the irony of Pennsylvania having a conversation about legalizing recreational marijuana at the same time it is looking at imposing stricter tobacco laws. To that, Scavello said about legalizing marijuana, “I’m not having that conversation. I have serious concerns on that issue.”

Mark Meaney, lead senior staff attorney for the St. Paul, Minn.-based Public Health Law Center, said the most effective Tobacco 21 laws are ones that target the penalties at the retailers who sell the cigarettes rather than the youth buying them.

Scavello agrees the enforcement mechanism he plans to put in his bill would apply to those selling the products to anyone under 21. But he said he is looking at that aspect of the legislation carefully.

“I want it to be tough but I don’t want it to put somebody out of business either,” he said.

He is optimistic his bill will not only be put to a vote in the Senate in this legislative session but predicts it could have the support of at least 45 of the 50 senators. He also has been talking with House members to generate support for passage in that chamber.

Hundreds of youth and adult advocates will pour into the Capitol in May to ask lawmakers to raise the age, said Sarah Lawver, the lung association’s advocacy director in Pennsylvania.

“Legislators are seeing that now is the time to act and by enacting proven policies such as Tobacco 21, they really have an opportunity to save lives,” she said.

* This story was updated to add a comment from health secretary, Dr. Rachel Levine.

Jan Murphy may be reached at jmurphy@pennlive.com. Follow her on Twitter at @JanMurphy.

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