Evidence that a majority of habitual smokers start during early adolescence has prompted the state Department of Health to remind stores of the penalties they face by selling tobacco products to minors.

Health department staff members will put posters in stores indicating state law regarding sale to minors, according to a health department press release. The punishment for selling tobacco products to a minor under the age of 16 is a fine of $300 or 90 days in jail.

Marjorie K. Mays, a state health department official in the North Central District, said the new campaign was planned because national studies show that 60 percent of habitual adult smokers start by age 13.

Mays also said she personally wanted the campaign because of an incident she witnessed. She said she was in a store when two young children entered and asked for a pack of cigarettes. The children, who seemed about ten years old, did not have enough money to purchase the cigarettes.

The clerk, unaware of the law, gave them the money, Mays said.

Clerks at convenience stores in downtown State College say because most people in the area are at least 18, the age requirement rarely poses a problem.

However, local Uni-mart employee Pat Barrett said minors from a nearby high school often try to buy tobacco at the South Atherton Street store where she works.

"Kids from the high school come in and try to buy cigarettes or snuff," Barrett said. "If there is any doubt about their age, I ask to see ID. I think the law should be enforced better than it is. I've been in two stores where young-looking kids walked in and the clerk sold them cigarettes without any question."

Mays said her staff believes tobacco use by minors often leads to later use of illegal drugs. She also said many children who experiment with cigarettes are unaware of the addictive nature of nicotine.

Although stores will not sell cigarettes to minors under 18, children can purchase cigarettes from vending machines. Mays said the only way to combat this is through education and campaigns.

"We have made a lot of headway in having adults understand that it is better to quit," Mays said. "Now we are teaching the younger segment not to start."

A spokeswoman for the Fred B. Bayer Co., a tobacco wholesale dealer in Huntingdon, said, "It is up to the store people to uphold the morality of who they sell to. If it is a law then the stores should uphold it."

Lee Eisenhart, owner of the Tobacco Tavern in State College, said he does not approve the use of tobacco products by minors and also disapproves the use of cigarettes by anyone.

He said, "I would like to phase cigarettes out of my store."

Dave Fishel, vice president of public relations for R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. in North Carolina -- which sells Marlboro cigarettes among other brands --said he has no quarrel with the new campaign if that is the law.

R.J. Reynolds never condones the sale of cigarettes to minors, he said.