UNC study shows Internet offers youths easy way to buy ...( were refused when the minors did not p...),Health

None of the Internet vendors verified the age of the 11- to 15-year-olds when the cigarettes were delivered to their homes. In nearly 97 percent of orders paid by money order and 77 percent of those paid by credit card, packages were simply left at the recipients' doors, Ribisl said.

"Pornography Web sites probably do a better job of verifying the age of their customers than Web sites selling cigarettes," he said.

The U.S. Postal Service or the United Parcel Service shipped most orders, but one came from Federal Express and an unknown company delivered a package from the British Virgin Islands.

Only one package was clearly labeled as tobacco products, only one was marked "Adult signature required for delivery" and only seven showed a return address indicating a tobacco vendor. Some sent complimentary cigarettes and promotional items such as pens and lighters, and one sent six free cartons of cigarettes to two different youth volunteers.

"Although it is against the law for stores to sell cigarettes to minors in every state in America, there is currently no federal law that bans Internet and mail order cigarette sales to minors," Ribisl said. "Thus, none of the Web sites in this study was breaking any federal laws by selling to children, although at least six states prohibit it. Congress has been considering legislation to ban cigarette sales to minors for more than four years. This study clearly shows that Internet cigarette vendors are not adequately verifying the age of their customers and that federal action is urgently needed."

The four volunteers, two boys and two girls using fake names but their real addresses for the study, and the researchers had a letter guaranteeing immunity from prosecution written by Orange County, N.C., District Attorney Carl Fox. To avoid possible legal complications with other states, adults pressed the "submit" buttons for online orders
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Contact: David Williamson
919-962-8596
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
9-Sep-2003