Iron County supports effort to raise smoking age

By RICHARD JENKINS

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Hurley — Iron County has signed onto an effort to raise Wisconsin’s smoking age to 21 as the Iron County Board of Supervisors passed a resolution advocating for the change Tuesday.

The resolution was passed at the recommendation of the county’s board of health, county board chairman Joe Pinardi said Wednesday. He said one of the reasons he supports the proposal is because it will help keep tobacco products out of the school system.

“It will eliminate a lot of the school-age kids being able to buy tobacco products,” Pinardi said, adding county officials are working on an ordinance regarding vaping devices for similar reasons. “I think 21 is a much better age for that kind of thing than 18, because there are a lot of kids that are 18 that are still in school.”

National data shows 95% of adult smokers began before they are 21, according to the text of the resolution, which called the tobacco use, “the foremost preventable cause of premature death in the United States.”

“The ages of 18 to 21 are a critical period when many smokers move from experimental smoking to regular, daily use,” the resolution continued.

The resolution argued raising the minimum age will also reduce the number of smokers who are younger than 18 as many often get cigarettes from friends who are between 18 and 20.

There are at least 480 localities, 18 states and the District of Columbia that have already raised the legal sales age for tobacco to 21, according to the resolution, and three-quarters of the adults favor changing the minimum age — including seven out of 10 smokers.

“The Institute of Medicine also predicts that raising the minimum legal sales age for tobacco products to 21 nationwide would result in 223,000 fewer premature deaths, 50,000 fewer deaths from lung cancer and … 4.2 million fewer years of life lost for those born between 2000 and 2019,” the resolution read.

In other action, the board:

—Approved the “promulgations statement,” or public announcement, for the county’s emergency operations plan.

—Heard a presentation from Enbridge regarding plans for the company’s Line 5 pipeline. The potential plan to reroute the line around the Bad River Reservation remains in the very early stages, as various surveys are being conducted and public input is gathered. Earlier in the month, the county’s forestry committee authorized the company to conduct surveys on county land as part of the planning process.