I'm assuming it says this somewhere?
The reason I ask is they could make a table about, say, a Dragon Shape ability that says the exact same things:
Level Age Color Limitations 4 Wyrmling White No Casting, Flight or Breath Weapon 8 Young Green No Casting or Breath Weapon 12 Adult Blue No Casting 16 Ancient Red
And it would seem clear to me that a level 8 character could turn into a Young White Dragon even though it has a breath weapon normally.