Reps. Spade, Bieda, Shaffer, Pappageorge, Kooiman, Wojno, Farrah, Clack, Vagnozzi, Sheltrown, Nofs, Caswell, Woodward, Zelenko, Vander Veen, Voorhees, Pumford, Accavitti, Brandenburg, Condino, Farhat, Minore, Phillips, Richardville, Sak, Adamini, Amos, Anderson, Bradstreet, Brown, Caul, Dennis, Gieleghem, Gillard, Gleason, Hager, Jamnick, Kolb, Lipsey, Middaugh, Stallworth, Stewart, Tobocman, Waters, Woronchak, Byrum, Elkins, Plakas, Ruth Johnson, McConico and Murphy offered the following resolution:

            House Resolution No. 134.

            A resolution to memorialize the Congress of the United States to enact legislation to ban Internet and mail order tobacco sales to minors.

            Whereas, It has become easy for minors to buy cigarettes over the Internet, since few vendors verify buyers’ ages; and

            Whereas, A University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill research study found that children ranging from 11 to 15 years of age had little difficulty making such Internet tobacco purchases, succeeding in 76 of 83 attempts.  The children successfully received cigarettes for 93.6 percent of credit card purchase attempts and 88.9 percent of money order purchase attempts; and

            Whereas, More than 90 percent of the Internet vendors in the study had language on their web pages stating they would not sell to minors, yet more than 90 percent of them sold cigarettes to children anyway, with few mechanisms in place to verify a buyer’s age; and

            Whereas, In 97 percent of the orders paid by money order and 77 percent of the orders paid by credit card, packages were simply left at recipients’ doors.  None of the vendors in the study verified the age of the 11- to 15-year-olds when the cigarettes were delivered to their homes; and

            Whereas, Few of the packages were labeled as containing tobacco products, and only one was marked “Adult signature required for delivery.”  Only 7 showed a return address indicating a tobacco vendor; and

            Whereas, More than 350 vendors sell tobacco products using the Internet, with annual sales expected to exceed $5 billion in 2005; and

            Whereas, Duke University researchers have determined that 60 percent of smokers in the United States took up the habit before age 14.  There are an estimated 4 million teenage smokers; and

            Whereas, Even though it is against the law for stores to sell cigarettes to minors in every state in America, there is no federal law that bans Internet and mail order cigarette sales to minors; and

            Whereas, Tobacco use is linked to some 400,000 preventable deaths per year in the United States.  Every day, 3,000 American children under age 18 become regular smokers; now, therefore, be it

            Resolved by the House of Representatives, That we memorialize the Congress of the United States to enact legislation forbidding Internet and mail order tobacco sales to minors; and be it further

            Resolved, That copies of this resolution be transmitted to the President of the United States Senate, the Speaker of the United States House of Representatives, and the members of the Michigan congressional delegation.