Smokers under 30 need photo IDs to buy tobacco products, US FDA says

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(Reuters) -The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has mandated more people show photo identification when buying tobacco products, as the health regulator raised the age verification requirement by three years.

As part of a rule finalized by the agency on Thursday, the FDA now requires retailers to verify the age of anyone under 30 when they buy tobacco products, from under 27 previously.

The FDA also said retailers cannot sell tobacco products via vending machine in places where individuals under 21 are present or permitted to enter, from 18 years previously.

The United States has been cracking down on the use of tobacco over the past few years to curb preventable deaths from smoking and other products, as well as stop the use of e-cigarettes by minors.

“Decades of science have shown that keeping tobacco products away from youth is critical to reducing the number of people who ultimately become addicted to these products,” said Brian King, director of the FDA’s Center for Tobacco Products.

The World Health Organization had said in May tobacco companies were trying to hook a new generation on nicotine by actively targeting them via social media, sports and music festivals.

The FDA had raised the minimum age for tobacco use to 21 years from 18 in 2019.

According to the American Lung Association, smoking kills more than 480,000 people per year in the United States, making it the leading preventable cause of death in the country.

Shares of tobacco companies such as Philip Morris and Altria were flat in morning trading.

(Reporting by Christy Santhosh and Juveria Tabassum in Bengaluru ; Editing by Shilpi Majumdar)