Résumé :
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[BDSP. Notice produite par INIST-CNRS R0xL7MPW. Diffusion soumise à autorisation]. Context : There is growing concern that the Internet might become a source of tobacco products for minors. Although researchers have studied tobacco sales to minors at retail outlets for more than a decade, there are no published studies of tobacco sales to minors via the Internet. Objective : To determine the proportion of Internet cigarette vendors that will sell cigarettes to minors. Design, Setting, and Participants : Cross-sectional study conducted in April-July 2001. Under adult supervision, 4 adolescents aged 11 to 15 years attempted to purchase cigarettes via 55 Internet cigarette vendors located in 12 states. These minors made a total of 83 purchase attempts, paying by credit card (n=47) and by money order (n=36). Main Outcome Measure : Proportion of Internet cigarette vendors that sold cigarettes to minors. Results : Minors successfully received cigarettes for 93.6% of credit card purchase attempts and for 88.9% of money order purchase attempts. Age was never verified for any of these deliveries. Internet vendors sent a total of 1650 packs of cigarettes to the underage adolescents in this study. Conclusion : Minors appear to have easy access to cigarettes via the Internet because many Internet vendors have weak or nonexistent age verification procedures.
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