"The results of the survey are disturbing," stated Heather Gruenig-Duvall, coordinator of the Stanislaus County Health Services Agency's Tobacco Education Program. "The state numbers cast a bad light on what is happening to our children."

Duvall noted that tobacco sales rates in Stanislaus County have decreased in contrast to the state results. She noted "in 1995, our county survey showed an illegal sales rate of 54%. By 1999, we had that number down to 12.3%."

The California legislature passed the STAKE Act (Stop Tobacco Access To Kids Enforcement Act) in 1994 to prohibit the sale of tobacco products to minors.

The state survey was conducted to insure that all merchants are complying with state and federal laws. The survey was conducted throughout the state of California in more than 400 stores that were drawn from a Board of Equalization list of California retail businesses.

Results of the survey indicated that businesses most likely to illegally sell tobacco products to minors were gas stations, which showed a 52% increase from their 1998 statistics. Supermarkets had the most dramatic increase at 17.3% compared to 5.1% in 1998, an increase of 238% in just one year. Small grocery convenience stores also had an increase of 39% from 1998.

The survey teams were made up of two youth and an adult driver who also acted as an observer. A youth entered the store and either requested a pack of cigarettes from a sales clerk or retrieved the cigarettes from a self-service display. During the purchase attempt, if the youth was asked his or her age, they responded truthfully and stated their actual age. If a sale was completed, it was counted as an illegal sale.

Each attempted purchase was observed by the adult escort who also recorded the purchase transaction. The owner of a business where tobacco is sold or provided to a minor may be fined $200-300 for the first violation and up to $6,000 for a fifth or subsequent violation within a five year period.

It is estimated that every day 300 children in California begin to smoke or chew tobacco, with more than half of them starting before the age of 15. The STAKE ACT was designed to protect the health of children by stopping illegal sales of tobacco to youth.

Duvall encouraged retailers to help protect our children by:

• Never selling tobacco products to children under the age of 18
• Always asking for ID from anyone who appears to be under 27 years old
• Always calculating the customer's age using the dates on the ID before selling tobacco products
• Posting the required STAKE ACT signs at each retail point of sale

The public can contact the Stanislaus County Health Services Agency Tobacco Education Program at (209) 558-6053 for information on tobacco, including smoking cessation programs. Retailers needing the required signs or having questions about required postings can also contact the program. Retailers who illegally sell tobacco products to minors can be turned in by calling the California Department of Health Services at 1-800-5 ASK- 4-ID.

The Stanislaus County Health Services Agency (HSA) is an outpatient medical system with 9 medical offices located throughout Stanislaus County. The HSA operates the Public Health Department, an Urgent Care Center and multiple programs serving over 400,000 patients and clients each year in Stanislaus County. The HSA also is in local partnerships for the MOMobile project and the Stanislaus Family Practice Residency Program. The HSA has extensive community health information available at its web site www.schsa.org