The four children, ages 11 to 15, were taking part in a University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill study when they used credit cards and money orders to try to buy cigarettes from 55 Internet vendors. Over a four-month period in 2001, they succeeded 94 percent of the time using credit cards and 90 percent of the time using money orders.

Just one package was marked as containing tobacco products, and only one required an adult signature for delivery. A number of vendors sent free cigarettes and promotional materials to the children.

"Although it is against the law for stores to sell cigarettes to minors in every state in America, there is currently no federal law that bans Internet and mail-order cigarette sales to minors," lead study author Kurt Ribisl said. "Congress has been considering legislation to ban cigarette sales to minors for more than four years. This study clearly shows that Internet cigarette vendors are not adequately verifying the age of their customers and that federal action is urgently needed."

In the wake of the report, Rep. Marty Meehan (D-Mass.) introduced legislation to regulate Internet cigarette sales and collect excise takes on such sales.

There are now at least 353 online cigarette retailers, and their sales could top $5 billion by the end of 2005, Ribisl said. Most are located in low-tax states like Virginia, North Carolina. One of the biggest online retailers is New York's Seneca Indian tribe, which sells cigarettes tax-free from its reservation.

The research was published in the Sept. 10, 2003 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association.

Ribisl, K., Williams, R., & Kim, A. (2003) Internet Sales of Cigarettes to Minors, Journal of the American Medical Association, 290(10): 1356-1359.

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