Accessibility to minors of smokeless tobacco products--Broward County, Florida, March-June 1996.

Health consequences associated with use of smokeless tobacco (SLT) (i.e., snuff or loose-leaf or fine-cut chewing tobacco) products include halitosis, leukoplakia, and oral cancer. Periodontal degeneration and soft tissue lesions are early indicators of these conditions and diseases among persons who use SLT. Since October 1992, the sale of tobacco products to minors (i.e., persons aged < 18 years) has been prohibited by law in Florida, and since May 1994, Florida law has required businesses to post warning signs stating that tobacco sales to minors are illegal and that proof of age is required to purchase tobacco products such as SLT. To assess the impact of these laws on over-the-counter access to SLT by minors in Broward County (1990 population: 1,244,531), during March-June 1996 faculty from Florida Atlantic University's Department of Exercise Science/Wellness Education conducted a study to measure vendor compliance with tobacco minimum-age sale laws and with the sign statute. This report summarizes the findings of the assessments, which indicated that nearly one third of attempts by minors to purchase SLT products were successful.