WASHINGTON, March 24 /PRNewswire/ -- The Coalition for Responsible Tobacco Retailing, sponsors of the national We Card program, today affirmed the commitment of its members to prevent underage tobacco sales in the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court's decision

``We will continue our mission to train and educate retailers on how to prevent the sale of tobacco products to underage customers at the retail sales counter,'' said Read deButts, executive director of the Coalition for Responsible Tobacco Retailing. All 50 states and the District of Columbia have minimum-age sales laws making it illegal to sell tobacco to persons under 18 years of age (19 years of age in Alabama, Alaska and Utah), with state fines and penalties for noncompliance. The focus of the We Card program is to teach retailers how to comply with these laws. The FDA had issued regulations in 1997 requiring retailers to ask for valid photo identification from customers who are under 27 years of age. These regulations are no longer in effect after the U.S. Supreme Court issued its decision on Tuesday. However, We Card training and education will continue to recommend that retailers ask for valid photo identification with date-of-birth from customers who appear to be under 27 years of age, even though it is no longer required by law. ``Many retailers had adopted store policies stricter than the FDA carding regulation before it was issued in 1997,'' said Marc Katz, Vice President of the National Association of Convenience Stores and Board member of the Coalition. ``Retailers will still have tough store policies in place, and We Card training will continue to emphasize that carding customers is a key component in preventing underage sales.'' Since 1995, the Coalition has distributed more than 550,000 free We Card retail educational kits to retailers nationwide which contained signage, point-of-sale ma

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