Under 16s: one in five smokes

10:11pm Thursday 27th September 2007

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ONE in five under-16s are smoking - and half of them buy their own cigarettes from local shops.

The figure is revealed in a major survey by trading standards officers, just as the legal age for buying tobacco rises to 18 on Monday.

Inspectors say they will use the results to crack down on shops who break the law, using under-age spies - fines can reach £2,500. The law applies also to tobacco related sales, such as cigarette papers. The survey also revealed that many youngsters buy cigarettes with foreign health warnings, an indication of illegal imports. One in four said they had purchased counterfeit cigs.

Peter Jagger, Bury's head of trading standards, said: "Raising the age limit from 16 to 18 will help to reduce the levels of sales of cigarettes to young people.

For the last few years, trading standards officers have shown that, by clamping down on under-age sales, significant reductions in under-age drinking can be achieved - now the fight is on to tackle under age smoking."

The figures come from a survey of nearly 12,000 schoolchildren in the North West, the largest of its kind ever carried out in Europe.

Some 530 questionnaires were returned from Bury schools.

The aim was to identify how and where youngsters obtain cigarettes to help plan intelligence-led operations.

The findings will now go to Government chiefs to inform future tobacco enforcement strategies.

The Department of Health says that someone who starts smoking at 15 is three times as likely to die from cancer than someone who starts smoking in their mid-20s.

Dr Peter Elton, Bury's director of public health, added: "It is vital that fewer children take up smoking.

"Everything we can do to make it more difficult for young people to get hold of cigarettes will help prevent them from getting addicted before they reach adulthood."