Energy and Commerce Chairman Frank Pallone, Jr. (D-NJ) released the following statement today after the House of Representatives voted to pass his legislation, H.R. 2339, the Protecting American Lungs and Reversing the Youth Tobacco Epidemic Act of 2020:
“Today, the House stood up and said we will not allow Big Tobacco to prey upon our children with slick new products, purposefully designed to get kids addicted to nicotine.
“Unfortunately, these products have proliferated in use in recent years as manufacturers peddle enticing flavors like bubblegum, cotton candy and mango to our children with glossy advertisements. These campaigns have been so successful that Big Tobacco has rapidly reversed years of progress to bring down teen smoking rates. In just one year alone, between 2017 and 2018, e-cigarette use by high school students increased by an alarming 78 percent.
“These numbers are alarming and that is why we came together to pass a comprehensive, multi-pronged approach to tackle the youth tobacco epidemic underway in America today. H.R. 2339 prohibits the flavors that Big Tobacco has used to hook our kids on their products, updates and extends existing marketing and advertising restrictions for traditional tobacco products to all tobacco products including e-cigarettes, restricts most online tobacco sales and makes it unlawful to market e-cigarettes to people under the age of 21.
“I thank the more than one hundred organizations that supported this lifesaving legislation including the Campaign for Tobacco Free Kids, the American Lung Association, the American Heart Association, the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network, the NAACP and the National Medical Association.
“Together, we sent a clear message to Big Tobacco today: we will not stand by while you attempt to lure yet another generation into a lifetime of nicotine addiction, tobacco-related disease and death."
Pallone introduced H.R. 2339 last year to address the sharp rise in use of tobacco and e-cigarette products among young people. The Energy and Commerce Committee passed the bill in November.
