A woman smokes at a bar

London, July 3 (Reuters): The Department of Health (DoH) announced today it was considering whether to raise the age limit for buying cigarettes or tobacco from 16 in a bid to cut the level of smoking among teenagers.

A consultation exercise has been launched to look at whether the age limit should be increased to 17 or 18, which would bring it into line with the sale of alcohol.

The government is also looking at whether there should be tougher measures introduced at shops that sell cigarettes to under-age children.

“Smoking is dangerous at any age, but the younger people start, the more likely they are to become life-long smokers and to die early,” health minister Caroline Flint said.

“Someone who starts smoking aged 15 is three times more likely to die of cancer due to smoking than someone who starts in their late twenties.”

The government said about 9 per cent of children aged between 11 and 15 smoke. Raising the age limit to the same required to buy alcohol would bring Britain into line with the likes of Canada, Australia and the US.

It is also pondering new sanctions including banning shops that regularly sell cigarettes to children from being allowed to sell tobacco at all.