Kansas Health Institute | Information For Policy Makers. Health for Kansans.

TOPEKA — Apparently more than 99 percent of Kansas retailers are complying with new tobacco control laws.

Violations were found just 19 times out of 2,036 inspections performed in the year since the state was awarded a federal contract to monitor compliance with the Family Smoking and Prevention and Tobacco Control Act of 2009.

That's according to a database of inspections performed in states that were the first to enforce the new regulations that were aimed at discouraging sales of tobacco to minors.

Last October, state officials announced Kansas was one of 15 states awarded contracts with the Food and Drug Administration the monitor the new regulations.

The regulations included, for example, checking identification of anyone under 27 years old, as well as enforcing new bans on:

• Cigarettes with flavor additives such as vanilla or strawberry,

• Offering gifts in exchange for buying tobacco products,

• New, modified risk descriptors, such as 'light' or 'mild.'

FDA spokeswoman Kara Henschel said that retailers found in violation of the law generally are first sent a warning letter.

If violations continue, she said "FDA can pursue enforcement actions such as civil money penalties, no tobacco sale orders, seizure and/or injunctions against that retailer. The terms of each action will be case-specific."

Each of the 19 violations found in Kansas were at different retailers.

Mary Jayne Hellebust of the Tobacco Free Kansas Coalition said the number of warning letters sent in the state was commendably small.

"We would prefer no warning letters, but 19 letters out of 2,036 is a very small percentage," she said.

Among the 15 states awarded the FDA contracts, Kansas' non-compliance rate was among the lowest. However, FDA officials said the database was not intended as a tool for comparing state performance.

The new FDA-funded compliance checks are in addition to the so-called Synar inspections, which resulted from 1992 federal legislation aimed at decreasing youth access to tobacco.

State officials said that Synar data for fiscal 2011 is currently being compiled and will be available soon.