The US Food and Drug Administration changes the minimum age to purchase tobacco products nationwide from 18 to 21.

A new law banning the sale of cigarettes to people under the age of 21 went into effect on December 27, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said on its website. The law applies to all tobacco products, including traditional cigarettes, cigars, and electronic cigarettes.

The adjustment to the minimum age allowed to buy cigarettes comes after President Donald Trump signed through a $ 1.4 trillion spending package that amended the federal Food, Drug and Cosmetics Act. . The tobacco trade restriction has received bipartisan approval in the US congress and marked a major achievement on public health of the White House.

"We have to take care of the children, this is the most important thing, so we will have to set a limit at 21 or older," President Trump said at the White House in November.

Earlier, 19 states in the US and Washington capital have raised the minimum age to buy cigarettes to 21 at the call of the nonprofit "Campaign for Children without Tobacco".

Electronic cigarette smoking is considered an epidemic among American teenagers when there are thousands of lung injuries related to the use of this product. The latest report from a federal survey found that a quarter of 12th-graders, one-fifth of 10th-graders, and nearly one-tenth-eighth graders, have been smoking nicotine in the past month. Many health organizations and parents have asked the White House to do more, not just raise the legal age to buy cigarettes.