Kids should not smoke, vape or use any tobacco products.
While we are encouraged that underage use of traditional tobacco products is at historic and generational lows, and underage vaping rates are declining, more must be done.
Age Validation Technology (AVT) is an important new tool to help prevent underage tobacco use. AVT helps clerks make sure they are selling tobacco products only to people of legal age to buy them. And it provides a line of defense to help maintain retail as the most responsible place to sell age-restricted products.
As the nation’s largest tobacco company, we must play an active role in preventing underage use of tobacco products. That’s one of the reasons we provide incentives to our retail partners to use this technology.
Here’s how AVT works: when a clerk scans a tobacco product for a sale, the system automatically prompts the scan of a government-issued identification (ID), like a driver’s license, before the transaction can continue. The technology confirms that the ID is not expired, and that it reflects legal age to purchase.
While today around 90 percent of retail transactions comply with minimum age laws according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, this is an important tool to help reduce human error and further prevent underage access at retail. And it’s a win-win for retailers who can choose to use this technology for other age-restricted products such as alcohol.
How many stores are using this today? I am proud to say that it has now been installed in more than 104,000 stores with an additional 36,000 stores in progress. We expect to continue our work with retailers to broaden age-validation technology across more stores.
Of course, preventing underage tobacco use requires a comprehensive approach. It takes more than just working with retailers. It requires work by many including policy makers, regulators, community partners and others.
And it requires us to think differently too. In 2018, when underage vaping rates showed an alarming increase, we supported raising the federal legal age of purchase for all tobacco products to 21. That is now the law of the land.
Underage tobacco use continues to decline because of the efforts of so many. Today, youth smoking rates are at the lowest levels in a generation. In fact, the 2021 Monitoring the Future study estimates youth past 30-day smoking rate, among eighth, 10th and 12th graders combined, to be 2.3 percent in 2021, a nearly 92 percent reduction from its 1997 peak.
According to the 2021 National Youth Tobacco Survey, 7.6 percent of middle and high schoolers reported past 30-day e-vapor use, a decline from the peak of 20 percent in 2019.
But more can and must be done.
That’s why we’re proud to support ongoing important work like AVT and remain committed to listening to and working with others to help make sure underage use of all tobacco products continues to decline.
