Retailers following teen tobacco laws

The percentage of retailers selling tobacco to underage youth during unannounced inspections dropped to 10.9 percent last year, the government reports. That is the lowest rates since states started conducting the stings a decade ago, according to figures being released Friday. A 1992 youth smoking law requires states to ban tobacco sales to anyone under age 18. It calls for aggressive enforcement including random inspections using decoy buyers at grocery stores and other retailers. States have to report the results, including penalties that were assessed, to the Health and Human Services Department. States that failed to reduce violation rates to 20 percent or less are subject to losing money from block grants. For the first time in the program's history, every state had a violation rate of less than 20 percent for the budget year that ended Sept. 30, 2006, according to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, which oversees the program. Arkansas had the lowest violation rate, 2.2 percent, followed by Mississippi at 3.2 percent and Delaware at 3.5 percent. Kansas had the highest violation rate, 19.2 percent. Massachusetts had a violation rate of 18.2 percent and Oregon's was 17.8 percent. "States have done an extraordinary job over the last 10 years in helping us stem illegal tobacco sales to minors," said Terry Cline, the agency's director. Every day, about 3,000 young people become regular smokers. It is estimated that one-third of them will die from smoking-related diseases