THE US: Seeking to drastically cut youth smoking rates, California legislators introduced a bill yesterday to raise the state's legal age for buying cigarettes from 18 to 21 - the highest in the country.
"This will make California the strictest state in the nation when it comes to letting young people smoke," said Assemblyman Paul Koretz, the Los Angeles Democrat sponsoring the bill.
"These merchants of death are desperate to expand their customer base, but they ought not be able to prey on teenagers to get them addicted," he added. Mr Koretz said his bill, co-authored by state Senator Joe Dunn and promoted by the California Medical Association, would help prevent tobacco companies from reaching people in their late teens, when they are most likely to become addicted to cigarettes. - (Reuters)