Kids should not use tobacco products. As the nation’s leading manufacturer of smokeless tobacco products, we believe we have an important role to play in helping to prevent kids from using tobacco.
Underage tobacco use is a complex issue for which there is no one simple solution. There is no single reason why young people engage in risky behaviors, such as experimenting with tobacco products, alcohol or drugs. Experts point to a variety of societal, environmental and personal factors that must be considered to help prevent these behaviors, and recommend a multi-faceted approach.
We support programs and legislative efforts to
reduce underage access to tobacco products, and provide
parents with resources to help them raise kids who don’t use tobacco.
We follow a number of business practices designed to limit underage access and exposure to our tobacco product brands and marketing materials. For example, we:
- limit direct mail and access to branded websites to adult tobacco consumers who are 21 or older and similarly limit one-to-one marketing activities to those 21 years of age or older.
- require participating retailers to merchandise and sell moist smokeless tobacco products only in clerk-assisted transactions and place our retail point of sale materials in limited locations only. Learn more about our responsible marketing efforts.
In November 1998, USSTC became the only smokeless tobacco manufacturer to reach an agreement with 45 state attorneys general. The agreement is known as the
Smokeless Tobacco Master Settlement Agreement. Elements of this agreement include the following:
- Providing $107 million to the American Legacy Foundation over a 10-year period, ending in 2008, to conduct public education campaigns and other programs to reduce underage tobacco use and substance abuse
- Prohibiting taking any action, directly or indirectly, to target youth within any settling state in the advertising, promotion or marketing of tobacco products
- Barring the use of cartoons in advertising, promotion, packaging or labeling of tobacco products
- Barring most forms of outdoor advertising, including billboards and stadium signs
- Barring most forms of transit advertisements, such as those on taxis and at bus stops
- Prohibiting the distribution of apparel or other merchandise such as caps, shirts and backpacks bearing tobacco brand names and logos
USSTC also supports the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act, which was passed by Congress in June 2009. This act gave the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) the authority to regulate tobacco products, including authority to establish a federal minimum age for the sale of tobacco products. The agency will contract with states and territories to conduct compliance checks that enforce minimum-age sales laws for tobacco products. User Fees paid to the FDA by tobacco manufacturers will fund the compliance checks. The FDA will also issue guidance establishing civil monetary penalties for retailers who violate certain restrictions on the sale and distribution of tobacco products including minimum-age sales restrictions for tobacco products.
