Trump proposes e-cigarette user fee to combat youth usage

[March 12, 2019]    By Ginger Gibson

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump is proposing adding a user fee to e-cigarettes to fund FDA oversight of new tobacco and nicotine products as part of an effort to reduce use by teenagers, according to his budget proposal released on Monday.

President Donald Trump talks to reporters as he departs to visit storm-hit areas of Alabama from the White House in Washington, U.S., March 8, 2019. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst

The budget estimated that the fee could bring in as much as $100 million a year.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has cracked down on e-cigarette makers during the past year as a teenage usage has surged. There is currently not a user fee on e-cigarettes.

U.S. Senator Jeanne Shaheen, a Democrat who proposed a similar fee on e-cigarettes, praised Trump for including the measure in his budget.

"I’m glad the Trump administration is weighing-in and making it clear that it’s past time to tackle the crisis of youth e-cigarette use," the senator said in a statement. "I hope to work with the administration as I rally bipartisan support for my legislation in Congress."

(Reporting by Ginger Gibson; Editing by Bill Trott and Meredith Mazzilli)

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