HomeMy WebLinkAboutA023 - Press Release from Iowa Department of Public Health dated March 13, 2000 Tobacco sales to youth drops in Iowa Pagel of 2
PK-r .. '3 -0 y - C C
Iowa Department of Public Health Stephen LC.ucas State
Director
Lucas State Office Building
Promoting and�7mteC1`ing the,t3'ewth at Iowans Des Moines, IA 50319-0075
515-281-5787
Press Release 3/13/2000
Tobacco Sales to Youth Drops in Iowa
Underage youth making checks on Iowa retailers last year found the retailers willing to sell tobacco
products to them 33 percent of the time.
That compares to a high of 50 percent in 1995, a low of 27 percent in 1997 and last year's rate of 36
percent.
"We're pleased with the decrease," said Dr. Stephen Gleason, director of the Iowa Department of
Public Health, "and I thank the retailers for their efforts. We all know we have a way to go, however."
The compliance checks, made by Iowa youth specially trained by substance-abuse prevention and law-
enforcement agencies, are required by a provision of federal statute called the Synar law. The law
requires that states have a compliance rate of 20 percent or less or risk loss of federal funds for
substance abuse and prevention. As a result of negotiations with the federal government, Iowa must
reduce its non-compliance to that level by 2002 or risk loss of the federal money.
Male and female youths, ages 15, 16 and 17, were recruited for the checks. Retailers were selected at
random from the 5,298 tobacco-permit holders around the state. They include convenience and
grocery stores, gas stations, restaurants and pharmacies. A total of 484 compliance checks were
conducted in 1999.
Iowa's Adolescent Smoking Prevention Act prohibits persons under age 18 from using, possessing,
buying or attempting to buy tobacco products.
For more information, including graphics, click here. More Iowa-specific information is also available
at the Food & Drug Administration's site,
http://www.fda.gov/opacom/campaigns/tobacco/compliancechecker.html
For more information:
• Go to the Bureau of External Affairs page,or
•
Click here to go to an online form for submitting questions.
http://www.idph.state.ia.us/news—rel/2000/synar-nr.htm 03/22/2000