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Lebanon soon could raise its minimum age to purchase tobacco to 21 under a new ordinance proposed by Alice Peck Day Memorial Hospital and public safety officials.

The proposal comes even as the U.S. Food and Drug Administration last month increased the age to purchase tobacco products from 18 to 21 nationally. The change took effect when President Donald Trump signed a budget deal Dec. 20. The proposal for Lebanon also would require those purchasing tobacco — including cigarettes, e-cigarettes and chewing tobacco — to be at least 21 years old.

Nicotine exposure during pregnancy, whether from smoking cigarettes, or nicotine patches and e-cigarettes, increases risk of sudden infant death syndrome -- sometimes known as "cot death" -- according to new research published in the Journal of Physiology. [...] Over recent years nicotine replacement therapies, such as nicotine patches or e-cigarettes, have been prescribed to women who wish to quit smoking during their pregnancy. However these nicotine replacement therapies may not protect infants from SIDS.