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 Officials have previously warned that sweet flavors had drawn
millions of children into nicotine addiction. "We must ban flavors
in a comprehensive manner," said U.S. Representative Raja
Krishnamoorthi, a Democrat co-leading the new Congressional Caucus
to End the Youth Vaping Epidemic, along with Republican
Representative Peter King and Democratic Senator Dick Durbin.
The lawmakers cited health experts who say flavors like mango and
mint from popular e-cigarette companies like Juul Labs Inc have
caused the surge in youth vaping.
Krishnamoorthi, chairman of the House Oversight Subcommittee on
Economic and Consumer Policy, said Congress needs to "craft
legislative solutions" to curb use of vaping products by teens.
Juul did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Juul has
insisted that it “never marketed to youth, period,” and that it
supports the need for “aggressive category-wide action on flavored
products.” The company pulled many of its flavors from retail
shelves last year but kept menthol and mint, which remains one of
its most popular flavors.
Also on Thursday, Durbin and a handful of other Democratic senators
announced a bill to tax e-cigarettes and increase the tobacco tax
rate. Durbin said in a statement the bill would be the first to tax
e-cigarettes at the federal level, and the first tax increase on
tobacco in a decade.
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Representative Rosa DeLauro, the Democratic chair of the committee
that oversees appropriations for the U.S. Department of Health and
Human Services, said on Thursday her committee will hold a hearing,
possibly to push HHS to regulate vaping.
HHS Secretary Alex Azar said last week his department would move,
under Trump's direction, to ban all e-cigarette flavors other than
tobacco in an effort to curb the use of e-cigarettes by youth.
Thursday's announcements came the same day U.S. health officials
said they are now investigating 530 confirmed and probable cases of
severe lung illnesses and seven deaths tied to vaping, and working
to identify the cause of the outbreak. No single substance or
compound, including tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), the high-inducing
component of marijuana, or Vitamin E acetate, has been linked to all
of the cases so far.
(Reporting by Bryan Pietsch and Richard Cowan in Washington; Editing
by Vanessa O'Connell and Matthew Lewis)
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