[Congressional Record Volume 165, Number 80 (Tuesday, May 14, 2019)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E586]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




       INTRODUCTION OF THE BANNING SMOKING ON AMTRAK ACT OF 2019

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                       HON. ELEANOR HOLMES NORTON

                      of the district of columbia

                    in the house of representatives

                         Tuesday, May 14, 2019

  Ms. NORTON. Madam Speaker, today, I introduce the Banning Smoking on 
Amtrak Act of 2019. My bill would simply codify Amtrak's internal 
policy prohibiting smoking, including of electronic cigarettes, on its 
trains. This bill is modeled on a bill I got enacted as part of the FAA 
Reauthorization Act of 2018 (P.L. 115-254) that clarified that the 
smoking ban on airplanes includes electronic cigarettes.
  Although Amtrak implemented its own internal policy banning smoking 
on its trains in 1993, that policy could always be repealed, though 
Amtrak has not indicated it would do so. My bill would make the ban a 
matter of federal law and put Congress on the record in support of 
protecting people from secondhand smoke.
  Smoking bans have been a critical tool in protecting people from the 
effects of secondhand smoke, known to increase the risk for serious 
cardiovascular and respiratory diseases like coronary heart disease, 
lung cancer and emphysema, among others. The World Health Organization 
(WHO) considers the tobacco epidemic to be one of the biggest public 
health threats in the world, killing more than seven million people a 
year. While more than six million of those deaths are the result of 
direct tobacco use, around 890,000 non-smokers exposed to secondhand 
smoke are also killed every year.
  Under my bill, smoking would be banned on Amtrak trains in the same 
manner as airline travel. According to the WHO, there is no safe level 
of exposure to secondhand tobacco smoke. Even short-term exposure can 
potentially increase the risk of heart attacks.
  I strongly urge my colleagues to support this legislation.

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