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UK raises smoking age from 16 to 18

Respiratory Care Weekly, January 3, 2007

In an effort to help reduce teen smoking, the United Kingdom raised its smoking age from 16 years old to 18 years old effective this October, according to BBC News. According to statistics that British public health minister Caroline Flint cited while announcing the new law, 450 children pick up the habit each day in the United Kingdom. She said the government plans to give retailers stiffer penalties for selling cigarettes to minors.

"Buying cigarettes has been too easy for [teens under age] 16 and this is partly due to retailers selling tobacco to those under the legal age," Flint said. "Smoking is dangerous at any age, but the younger people start, the more likely they are to become life-long smokers and die early."

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