As reported in Kaiser Health News, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) introduced bipartisan legislation yesterday to raise the minimum age for buying any tobacco products from 18 to 21. Fourteen states and 470 municipalities have enacted laws raising the minimum age for tobacco sales to 21. Smoking is the leading risk factor for contracting kidney cancer.

The law would apply to all tobacco products, e-cigarettes and vapor products and was co-sponsored by Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., whose state has also been a major tobacco producer. Senator McConnell’s state, Kentucky, is the 2^nd largest tobacco producer in the U.S. and Virginia is the 3^rd leading producer.

According to the National Cancer Institute’s latest statistics, Kentucky has the 3^rd highest incidence of kidney cancer, 25% above the national average. It has the highest kidney cancer mortality rate among all states, 39% above the national average. According to the Center for Disease Control, Kentucky leads the nation in cigarette use by adults with close to 25% of the adult population smoking cigarettes, see https://www.cdc.gov/statesystem/cigaretteuseadult.html.

Hopefully, this legislation will become law. In addition, taxes on cigarettes should be increased. This has shown to be a leading deterrent to smoking, especially among teenagers.

The following is an NCI/CDC State Cancer map for kidney cancer mortality rates by state for 2015, the latest year available.

Following is a CDC map of cigarette usage by adults for 2017, the latest year available.