Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 19 September 2024
276. Deputy Michael Healy-Rae asked the Minister for Health the reason he has chosen to increase the minimum age for the purchase of tobacco, rather than enforce existing age regulations via more test purchasing checks; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [37099/24]
Amharc ar fhreagraI propose to raise the minimum legal age of sale of tobacco products to 21 in order to reduce smoking prevalence and ultimately reduce the disease, disability and death and economic costs that it brings.
Analysis of the 2007 increase in the legal age of sale from 16 to 18 here found reduced smoking prevalence and a reduction in the likelihood of ever having tried a cigarette among 14- and 15-year-olds. Similarly, the UK increase to 18 in the same year was found, in England, to be associated with a significant reduction in regular smoking among 11–15-year-olds and an increase in the percentage who stated that they found it difficult to buy cigarettes.
Analysis from the U.S. Institute of Medicine on raising the national minimum legal age of sale of tobacco products to 21 found that:
• The largest proportionate reduction in tobacco initiation will likely occur among adolescents aged 15 to 17 years old. This will be due to this age group being unlikely to have members of their peer network over the minimum legal age who would be a source of cigarettes.
• Based on two models (SimSmoke and the Cancer Intervention and Surveillance Modelling Network) the expected reductions in initiation will, in several decades, lead to a 12% absolute reduction in smoking prevalence.
The measure will directly impact on those who may have initiated smoking at a younger age but do not become regular smokers until age 18 or above. Combined EU and UK data show that 38% of smokers began regular smoking between the ages of 18 and 25 and U.S. data shows that 11.4% became daily smokers between the ages of 18 and 20.
