There has been a slight rise in the number of teenagers taking up smoking.
(Source: Pixabay)There are calls for the legal age to buy tobacco to be raised to 21.
The Tobacco 21 Alliance claims it would reduce the number of young adults who start smoking after they turn 18.
It says there has been a slight rise in the number of teenagers taking up smoking - after years of reductions.
Respiratory physician at Beaumont Hospital, Dr Emmett O'Brien says there is evidence to back up their claims:
'What this proposal would mean is that if we were to raise the age of smoking to 21, we would remove a large proportion of young people from the adult population who will initiate smoking.'
International modelling suggests that Tobacco 21 policies can reduce smoking rates by up to 25 per cent among 15-17-year-olds and by up to 15 per cent among 18-20-year-olds.
