Blumenthal Welcomes Surgeon General's Report on Youth and Young Adult E-Cigarette Use

[WASHINGTON, DC] – Following the release of a new Surgeon General’s Report on Youth and Young Adult E-Cigarette Use, U.S. Senators Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) called on regulators and public health officials to heed the report’s call to action, and implement additional protections against youth e-cigarette use. Today’s report raised serious public health concerns regarding e-cigarette use among young people and the dangers of nicotine addiction, following in the footsteps of the first Surgeon General’s Report on Smoking and Tobacco Use released nearly fifty-three years ago. Today’s report, which was written and reviewed by more than 150 experts, is the first comprehensive federal review of the public health impact of e-cigarettes on youth and young adults in the United States.

“Contrary to what the tobacco industry would have you believe, e-cigarettes are not trendy and cool, they are a deadly hazard to the people who smoke them, and to everyone in their air space. Put simply: these products are dangerous, and they are particularly dangerous to youth,” Blumenthal said. “E-cigarettes are not only unsafe when used on their own, they also threaten to lead users, especially young people, down a perilous path to tobacco addiction, a lifetime of disease, and early death. To curb this growing public health crisis, we should look to the successful tobacco control efforts that have already saved the lives of millions – enforcing minimum age-of-sale laws, restricting marketing to children, and expanding education and cessation efforts.”

The Surgeon General’s Report on Youth and Young Adult E-Cigarette Use found that while nicotine is a highly addictive drug at any age, youth and young adults are uniquely vulnerable to its long-term consequences of exposing the brain to nicotine. The report also found that secondhand aerosol that is exhaled into the air by e-cigarette users can expose others to potentially harmful chemicals.

Among today’s report recommendations are several steps that Blumenthal has advocated for, including:

• Continuing to regulate e-cigarettes at the federal level to protect public health: Blumenthal was among the most vocal Members of Congress in calling for a rule to regulate e-cigarettes and other forms of tobacco. Congress gave the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) the power to oversee various forms of tobacco products when Congress passed the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act in June 2009. However, it took until April 2014 for FDA to issue draft “deeming” rules that would bring e-cigarettes, cigars, and other forms of tobacco products under the FDA’s jurisdiction. When the rule was finalized two years later, Blumenthal and U.S. Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL) welcomed the Administration’s action, and called for “strong enforcement of the new regulations, additional action to protect our youth from e-cigarettes, and ongoing scrutiny of the tobacco industry.”

• Raising and strongly enforcing minimum age-of-sale laws for all tobacco products, including e-cigarettes: Blumenthal joined U.S. Senators Brian Schatz (D-HI), Dick Durbin (D-IL), and Sherrod Brown (D-OH) in introducing legislation that would prohibit the sale of tobacco products to anyone under the age of 21.

• Regulating e-cigarette marketing: Blumenthal and U.S. Senators Barbara Boxer (D-CA), Dick Durbin (D-IL), Sherrod Brown (D-OH), Edward J. Markey (D-MA) and Tom Harkin (D-IA) sent a letter to FTC Chairwoman Edith Ramirez asking for an annual marketing disclosure report and urging the FTC to investigate the marketing practices of e-cigarette manufacturers. The Senators called on the FTC to provide more information to the public about these practices and to pursue enforcement action against companies that make false or misleading health claims in their advertising. Blumenthal, Boxer, Durbin, Brown and Markey then praised the Federal Trade Commission after it began a study of the sales and marketing of electronic cigarettes in America. The data will provide the basis for a report on the expenditures and targeting tactics of e-cigarette companies.

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