Back in February 2014, Ohio became the first state to prohibit the sale of e cigarettes to minors. Since then, 40 other states and cities have followed suit. Despite those regulations, a new study found it’s increasingly easy for teens to skirt the rules by purchasing the products online.

USA Today reports that a new study published in JAMA Pediatrics found teens had little trouble purchasing e cigarettes through online retailers across the country.

The study, which included 11 teens ages 14 to 17, found that participants were able to buy the products in 94% of attempts.

In all, only five of the 98 purchases were rejected based on consumers age. Those attempts were blocked because of parental control settings on the computer.

When the packages were delivered, none of the teens were asked to shows proof of age. In 95% of the cases, the study reports, the packages were simply left on the doorstep.

According to the study, seven of the 98 online e cigarette retailers claimed to use age verification techniques capable of complying with North Carolina law, which requires online retailers to verify e cigarette customer’s ages with a government records database.

However, researchers say the teens were able to place orders at six of those websites, showing that the retailer’s age verification doesn’t sufficiently work.

E cigarettes have become increasingly popular in recent years, while the Food & Drug Administration has been slow to implement federal regulations.

The FDA’s proposed regulations include a ban on selling the products to minors, but those rules have yet to be finalized. Additionally, the proposed rules do not take intent sells into consideration, researchers say.

Harold Farber, a pediatric pulmonologist, tells USA Today that the study’s findings aren’t shocking.

«Ninety percent of adult smokers start before age 18,» Farber says. «The industry knows very well that in order to get their next generation of customers, they need to get them before they become adults. We’re seeing the e cig industry follow the tobacco industry’s playbook.»

Still, representatives with e cigarette industry group, Smoke Free Alternatives Trade Association, say retailers take protecting children seriously.

«We certainly don’t want teenagers to have access to them,» Phil Daman, president of industry group, tells USA Today. «If people aren’t using age verification software, if they’re not doing what they’re supposed to be doing, there’s no excuse for it,»

Teens can easily buy e cigarettes online, study says USA Today

Gma: kids buy cigarettes online — abc news

Kids who are barred from buying cigarettes at local stores have a new way to get ahold of tobacco, and all it takes is a click of a mouse.

For years, law enforcement officers around the nation have used teens as bait in undercover sting operations to nail retail establishments for selling cigarettes to people under 18. And the stings worked More than 70 percent of all stores nationwide now comply with the laws and ask for identification.

But now there is a new way for kids to buy cigarettes, with no ID required, as ABCNEWS’ Good Morning America has discovered.

In Salt Lake City, children ranging in age from 10 to 17 were able to buy cigarettes online and have them shipped directly to their homes.

Laura Jacobsen, who does not smoke, was one of those who ordered cigarettes over the Internet. She and the other children were working with investigators from the Utah Attorney General’s Office.

It was part of a sting operation to see if online retailers would sell to minors. And they did More than 50 percent of the children’s orders were filled.

«I got Virginia Lights and I’m 14,» Jacobsen said. «I just ordered them over the Internet.»

No one asked her age or asked her to verify her identify, she said.

Across the nation, states and cities are running similar stings.

Eight year old Nikko was just one of the children who bought cigarettes online as part of a sting run by the New York City Department of Consumer Affairs. GMA’s consumer correspondent, Greg Hunter, watched the boy order three cartons of Kool mild cigarettes. The underage purchaser said he felt worried.

«I don’t want other kids to do that, unless they are supervised,» Nikko said.

Delivered to Their Doorsteps

According to U.S. health statistics, 8,000 children try cigarettes every day, and 3,000 become addicted to cigarettes every day.

No one knows how many children are actually ordering cigarettes online, but teens make up the largest group of new smokers. Some officials are concerned that the Internet could become an easy source for cigarettes.

In a similar cigarette sting last July, children ordered cigarettes from 26 Internet companies, and 24 of those companies filled the orders, sending the tobacco products to children.

«Unfortunately, we had kids as young as 7 years old getting cartons of cigarettes delivered to their doorstep,» said Jane Hoffman, commissioner of the New York City Department of Consumer Affairs.

The kids were surprised that they actually received the cigarettes. Their parents were appalled.

Joey, 13, bought cigarettes from as part of the most recent sting. The Web site clearly states you need to be 18 years old to order. But that didn’t stop Joey, who wasn’t asked him to prove he was 18.

Just how careless are some online cigarette sellers? In one case last July, a 7 year old gave his true date of birth to an online tobacco company and it sent him cigarettes anyway.

The New York City Department of Consumer Affairs Commissioner says an age verification system would prohibit minors from ordering.

«Many Internet porn sites have a prior registration where you register your credit card and prove your identity and send in a birth certificate,» says Hoffman. «I think Internet tobacco retailers should be doing the same thing,»

Cigarettes, Dirt Cheap

As GMA’s Hunter watched, three children who volunteered to be part of the sting placed a total of four orders three online and one by phone.