Wisconsin vendors are illegally selling tobacco to minors at the lowest-ever recorded rate, about 4.5 percent, according to a state survey released Friday.

Federal legislation requires all states to monitor the rate of illegal sales of tobacco to minors and to reduce that rate, and Wisconsin?s target rate is 20 percent. Consequences for failing to best the target rate would amount to about $10 million in lost federal funds for substance abuse prevention and treatment.

In 2001, the rate stood at 33.7 percent, dropping to 20.4 percent in 2002. The 2007 number of 4.5 percent is down from 2006?s 5.5 percent rate.

?As attorney general, I fought the big tobacco companies to help protect children from the health hazards of tobacco use, and as governor, I am very pleased we have made amazing progress in preventing the sale of tobacco to minors in Wisconsin,? Gov. Jim Doyle said in a statement.

The Synar survey, named after the congressman who advocated attention to preventing cigarette sales to minors, selects different outlets from across the state to check for the rate of tobacco sales to minors.

?We do a compliance check,? said Sheri Johnson, state health officer. ?We make attempts to purchase tobacco by people who are posing as minors.?

Johnson attributed much of the success in lowering the noncompliance rate to the Wisconsin Wins program, which provides training and education to retailers about sales of tobacco to minors.

?If you?ve been to a gas station or a minimart, you?ll see there are frequently signs at the checkout,? Johnson said, adding the signs are often among the materials provided through Wisconsin Wins.

Johnson called the low rate for 2007 a ?shared success? for the tobacco prevention and control program and retailers around the state.

?It really says 96 percent of our retailers are understanding the importance of preventing minors from starting to smoke and complying with our program,? Johnson said.

Wisconsin has undertaken a series of tobacco crackdown measures this year, including the recent enactment of a $1 increase to the cigarette sales tax and work on a potential smoking ban in all Wisconsin workplaces.

The smoking ban, however, is currently facing obstacles in the Legislature and would require major compromises from both sides of the debate to pass before the end of this session in mid-March.