A move to raise the legal age at which tobacco can be purchased to 21 across the U.S. appears to be gaining momentum. A new national survey from the Centers for Disease Control finds that more than three quarters of adults -- including seven out of ten smokers - support the change.
Tobacco use is the leading cause of preventable death and disease in the U.S. Some 90 percent of all adult tobacco users start by the age of 19. The Institute of Medicine says that prohibiting young Americans from buying tobacco until they turn 21 could prevent 223,000 premature deaths among those born between 2000 and 2019.