[Congressional Record Volume 165, Number 172 (Wednesday, October 30, 2019)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1375]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




        PREVENTING ONLINE SALES OF E-CIGARETTES TO CHILDREN ACT

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                               speech of

                        HON. FRANK PALLONE, JR.

                             of new jersey

                    in the house of representatives

                        Monday, October 28, 2019

  Mr. PALLONE. Mr. Speaker, I rise to speak on H.R. 3942, the 
Preventing Online Sales of E-Cigarettes to Children Act. As the 
Chairman of the Energy and Commerce Committee, which has jurisdiction 
over the Food and Drug Administration's regulation of tobacco products, 
I ardently support efforts to protect America's youth from a life of 
tobacco use, nicotine addiction, and its negative consequences.
  It is an unfortunate reality that nearly all tobacco use begins 
during youth and young adulthood. Research shows that 95 percent of 
adult smokers begin smoking before age 21 and 80 percent start before 
age 18. This is alarming to me, and should be alarming to everyone, 
because this is a crucial period for brain development. More worrisome 
is the fact that adolescent brains are more sensitive to nicotine, 
therefore young people may be more likely to develop a dependence on 
nicotine than adults.
  In recent years, online sales for e-cigarette products, including 
flavored e-cigarette products that are appealing to kids, are putting a 
new generation at risk of a lifetime of chronic health conditions and 
disease associated with nicotine addiction. Further, the Centers for 
Disease Control and Prevention warns that e-cigarette products can 
contain other harmful substances besides nicotine. Other than a few 
clicks of the mouse, we have few meaningful barriers to stop young 
Americans from purchasing these tobacco products online.
  That is why I support efforts to stop the flow of online tobacco 
sales. And while H.R. 3942 would require online age verification for 
the purchase and delivery of certain tobacco products, among other 
things, I believe this bill does not go far enough. If our aim is to 
prevent youth from purchasing these products online, then I firmly 
believe we should enact a complete ban against remote retail sales of 
all tobacco products, including e-cigarettes and e-cigarette 
accessories. This would mean that individuals wishing to purchase 
tobacco products would have to do so in a face to face setting, 
providing a stronger barrier to youth purchase.
  We should not focus alone on online sales though if our goal is to 
help reduce youth access and attraction to tobacco. I also believe we 
should take the following additional steps; raising the purchasing age 
to 21, enacting an across the board ban on all flavored tobacco 
products, including mint and menthol, and restricting the ability of 
tobacco and e-cigarette manufacturers to utilize deceptive marketing 
tactics to hook a new generation. That is why, this fall, I intend to 
move legislation I have authored--H.R. 2339, the Reversing the Youth 
Tobacco Epidemic of 2019--that contains these provisions among others. 
Taken together I believe these provisions would be the most meaningful 
step forward in working to reverse the damaging youth tobacco epidemic 
that is underway.
  We are in a complicated epidemic of youth e-cigarette use, and this 
complex problem calls for a comprehensive, multifaceted solution. I 
thank my colleagues for offering up tools to fix the abundance of youth 
tobacco use, but believe we must take every step possible, including 
prohibiting all non-face-to-face sales in order to address this public 
health crisis.

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