[Congressional Record Volume 165, Number 145 (Wednesday, September 11, 2019)]
[Senate]
[Pages S5413-S5414]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                              E-CIGARETTES

  Mr. DURBIN. Madam President, this week there was a significant 
development when it came to public health and our children in America. 
By way of preface to what I am about to say, I want to make clear that 
I have, during the course of my service in the House and the Senate, 
focused a great deal of my efforts on tobacco, the addiction that 
people have to tobacco cigarettes, and the deadly consequences of that 
addiction. My family has been touched by it, as most have in America. I 
lost my father when I was in high school. He smoked two packs a day and 
was a lung cancer victim. We buried him at the age of 53. I remember it 
to this day.
  I am not alone. Literally, thousands of Americans--millions, 
perhaps--have a similar story to tell. So from the beginning of my 
service in the House of Representatives, I started looking for ways to 
deal with this scourge of tobacco cigarette addiction. Many years ago--
over 25 years ago--I introduced a measure that banned smoking on 
airplanes, and to my great surprise it managed to pass the House of 
Representatives. Senator Frank Lautenberg of New Jersey was on the 
Appropriations subcommittee with the responsibility. He took it on in 
the Senate, passed it, and we made it the law of the land, banning 
smoking in airplanes.
  I didn't realize--and I am sure Senator Lautenberg didn't--that we 
had triggered a tipping point or reaction that led to banning smoking 
in so many other venues. Ultimately, we have now reached a point where 
no one would consider walking into my office and lighting up a 
cigarette or even asking for permission to light a cigarette. It is 
just unthinkable. But 25 years ago it was common. So things have 
changed.
  But what has happened is that Big Tobacco, having lost its 
marketplace position and lost its profitability, has moved to a new 
product--e-cigarettes and vaping. This company, JUUL, which is the 
largest provider of e-cigarette devices in the United States, has a 
huge stock ownership in tobacco companies. This is their new venue, 
their new approach. But much as with tobacco cigarettes, the vaping 
industry is counting on addicting children so that they can build their 
ranks, addicting teenagers. Tobacco cigarettes did the same with Joe 
Camel and the Marlboro cowboy, and now we see the same thing occurring 
when it comes to e-cigarettes and vaping.
  The previous Food and Drug Administration Commissioner, Dr. Gottlieb, 
characterized it properly when he called it an epidemic. We now have 3 
percent of American adults who are using vaping devices, 20 percent of 
America's teenagers and children using vaping devices. It is a new 
school year, and many of these students are heading off to middle 
schools and high schools

[[Page S5414]]

with new backpacks and maybe new laptops and new lockers and new 
teachers and new classrooms and new friends and a new addiction--the 
addiction of vaping.
  Vaping targets kids. They are introducing flavors that can be mixed 
with this vaping experience that appeal directly to children and 
teenagers in this country. How in the world can you imagine that 
someone who is a 50-year-old chain smoker trying to quit is going to 
choose a flavor pod called ``Unicorn Milk'' or ``Bubble Gum'' or 
``Gummy Bears''? They are all out there. They are designed to lure 
children, and, sadly, they are effective.
  For months now I have been begging this administration and the Food 
and Drug Administration to do something about this epidemic, and until 
this week they did little or nothing. But this week was a breakthrough. 
The Food and Drug Administration announced early this week that they 
were going to stop JUUL from advertising that their vaping products 
were a safe alternative to tobacco cigarettes.
  The reason is obvious. We have hundreds and hundreds of vaping 
victims now showing up in hospitals. As of last night, the sixth victim 
in America died from a vaping experience. Why? Because they are 
ingesting into their lungs, in these huge clouds of vapor and smoke, 
chemicals that are killing them, chemicals that are stopping their 
lungs from functioning. They don't realize it at the time; it is just 
another wild experience. They are told, by the way, by JUUL and others 
that it is safer than tobacco cigarettes. It is not safe. It is deadly, 
and it is an epidemic in this country.
  This week the American Medical Association stepped up its role, and I 
want to commend them. Dr. Patrice Harris, the President of the American 
Medical Association, released the following this week:

       In light of increasing reports of e-cigarette-associated 
     lung illnesses across the country, the [American Medical 
     Association] urges the public to avoid the use of e-cigarette 
     products until health officials further investigate and 
     understand the cause of these illnesses.

  She goes on to say:

       The e-cigarette-related lung illnesses currently sweeping 
     across the country reaffirm our belief that the use of e-
     cigarettes and vaping is an urgent public health epidemic 
     that must be addressed. We must not stand by while e-
     cigarettes continue to go unregulated. We urge the U.S. Food 
     and Drug Administration to speed up the regulation of e-
     cigarettes and remove all unregulated products from the 
     market. We also call on the FDA to immediately ban flavors, 
     as well as marketing practices, that enhance the appeal of e-
     cigarette products to youth.

  The Food and Drug Administration Commissioner has the authority 
today--before the sun sets on this 9/11 anniversary--to ban these 
flavor pods that are attracting children and adding to this epidemic in 
our high schools and middle schools across the United States. This Food 
and Drug Administration Administrator, Dr. Ned Sharpless, has the 
authority to take off the market scores, if not hundreds, of vaping 
devices that have been introduced to the public after the official date 
of deeming last year. He can do it today. It would have a dramatic 
effect starting tomorrow. He could start enforcing it with the 
retailers across America if he cared and if he were serious.
  Now we have an opportunity to test him and to test this 
administration. Will they go the next step in warning America's 
schools, teachers, families, and children about this epidemic and the 
deadly consequences of ignoring it? Will they take these products off 
the market this week?
  That is my challenge to them and to every American parent who dearly 
loves their child and cares about their health. I hope they will join 
me in this effort to urge this administration to take decisive action 
for children across America.
  I yield the floor.

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