New York city eyes raising smoking age from 18 to 21

A move to raise the smoking age from 18 to 21 in New York City could have the support of the Bloomberg administration, the city's health commissioner said Thursday.

The chair of the City Council's health committee, Joel Rivera, recently introduced a bill that would make it illegal for anyone younger than 21 to buy cigarettes.

Commissioner Thomas Frieden, who helped push for Mayor Michael Bloomberg's citywide smoking ban in bars and restaurants, said he was open to anything that helps curb the habit.

"It's certainly something that should be looked at," Frieden said. "We need to think about ways that we can further reduce smoking."

New York state lawmakers tried to raise the statewide smoking age to 19 last year, but the legislation did not go anywhere. Some studies show there has been little effect on youth smoking in states that have raised the age to 19, including Alabama and Alaska.

New York City already boasts dramatically lower rates of teen smokers than the national average. Eleven percent of city high school students smoke, compared with 23 percent nationwide, according to the city health department and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Bloomberg, a former smoker who is notoriously tough on tobacco, partly credits the city's higher cigarette taxes, which have raised the cost of a pack to as much as eight dollars.

Source: Xinhua