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Schumer: Online Cigarette Merchants Target Teens

By Elizabeth Christensen

Washington, D.C. – New York's senior senator says it's too easy for teens to purchase cigarettes and other tobacco products over the internet.

Charles Schumer demonstrated just how easy it was with help from his 13 year old daughter, Alison.

Alison Schumer sat at a computer in her father's New York City office yesterday and ordered a carton of cigarettes from the web site www.cigarettesexpress.com.

She did not complete her purchase. However, there were no age verification requirements on the site.

Schumer is proposing legislation that would require customers to type in their drivers license number when ordering smokes online. The vendor would then be required to cross check it with existing databases to verify the buyer's age.

Once the cigarettes were shipped, delivery workers would be required to verify the age of the person recieving the cigarettes.

Websites that didn't check ages would be shut down.