- Title: U.S. politicians propose taxes on vaping
- Date: 19th September 2019
- Summary: WASHINGTON, D.C., UNITED STATES (SEPTEMBER 19, 2019) (REUTERS) PRESS CONFERENCE PARTICIPANTS GATHERED AT PRESSER OUTSIDE OF U.S. CAPITOL BUILDING (SOUNDBITE) (English) U.S. REPRESENTATIVE (D-ILLINOIS) RAJA KRISHNAMOORTHI, SAYING: "E-cigarettes are used by 28 percent of high schoolers and astonishingly five percent of middle schoolers. My wife and I are parents of, both, a high schooler and a middle schooler, so this is personally alarming. According to the Centers for Disease Control, nicotine harms youth brain development, reduces the attention span, and, in many cases, leads to future substance abuse. At the same time, 380 eighty people in 36 states across the country have experienced mystery vaping-related lung and respiratory illnesses. In fact, there have been seven deaths from these illnesses related to vaping in just the last few months alone." PRESS CONFERENCE PARTICIPANTS GATHERED AT PRESSER OUTSIDE OF U.S. CAPITOL BUILDING (SOUNDBITE) (English) U.S. REPRESENTATIVE (D-NEW YORK) TOM SUOZZI SAYING: "We want to ban flavored cigarettes permanently in legislation, not just requiring on the administration to do it. But new to what anybody's been talking about before is, we want to raise the federal tax, not only on cigarettes from one dollar to three dollars, but also put us to the same tax on vaping products as well for an equivalent three dollar tax. Why? Because we see in the United States of America that those states that have risen... raise their taxes on cigarettes have seen a lower incidence of people smoking and a lower incidence of cancer." PRESSER PARTICIPANTS WITH SIGNS SAYING "#ENDYOUTHVAPING" (SOUNDBITE) (English) U.S. REPRESENTATIVE (R-NEW YORK) PETER T. KING, SAYING: "This is not a political issue. It's not a partisan issue. It's not an economic issue. This is, first and foremost, it's a public health epidemic issue. We have to stop this epidemic of youth vaping. And, with all the various methods and procedures we may have, the end goal has to be to end youth vaping." MEMBERS OF MEDIA LISTENING (SOUNDBITE) (English) U.S. REPRESENTATIVE (D-COLORADO) DIANA DEGETTE, SAYING: "Now, I haven't talked to one person who... who uses these vaping products who knows what they're inhaling or how it might affect their health. And the recent surge in the vaping-related illnesses shows that we are desperate for more federal regulation of these dangerous products. Congress simply cannot afford to sit back and watch as these companies keep operating as if nobody is paying attention." PRESSER PARTICIPANTS LISTENING (SOUNDBITE) (English) U.S. REPRESENTATIVE (D-CONNECTICUT) ROSA DELAURO, SAYING: "The Department of Health and Human Services, the FDA allowed dangerous products to come on the market by exempting e-cigarettes from a pre-market review. What is that? It's a process, which would have required manufacturers to prove the safety of their products prior to their sale. The FDA made the express decision, the express decision, to skip this review and, what they call, and I quote, enforcement discretion, and they allowed these devices to be sold. Their enforcement discretion has wound up making people ill and killing people. As a consequence, thousands of e-products on the market, without any independent science-based assessment of their long-term health." U.S. REPRESENTATIVE (R-UTAH) CHRIS STEWART SPEAKING (SOUNDBITE) (English) U.S. REPRESENTATIVE (R-UTAH) CHRIS STEWART, SAYING: "You know, I grew up in an era, where we went through this transition, where smoking was really considered uncool. We took it out of our movies. You didn't see sports figures smoking. They changed the advertising. And we've lost all of that with this campaign towards addicting our children, and we're... it no longer is considered uncool to go out to the point when you're in high school and smoke. It's kind of considered edgy and hip to pull out your vape and to start using that in front of your friends. We've got to change that." PARENTS AND CO-FOUNDERS OF "PARENTS AGAINST VAPING E-CIGARETTES" APPROACHING MICROPHONE (SOUNDBITE) (English) PARENTS AGAINST VAPING E-CIGARETTES, PARENT AND CO-FOUNDER, MEREDITH BERKMAN, SAYING: "We represent the human face and the toll that this epidemic has taken on millions of American families. And it continues. We hear from parents every single day through social media, calling us, or reaching out on our Web site, who are desperate, because they need information, they need resources. Sometimes they just need someone to talk to. Their kids have changed. Their kids are sick, and of course now, maybe their kids are in the hospital with a mystery lung illness." TEENAGERS IMPACTED BY VAPING EPIDEMIC, CALEB MINCE AND PHILIP FUHRMAN, APPROACH MICROPHONE (SOUNDBITE) (English) TEENAGER IMPACTED BY VAPING EPIDEMIC, CALEB MINCE, SAYING: "Over a year ago, a Juul representative came in to my school and told me and my friends that the Juul was, quote un quote, 'totally safe'. I'm grateful to the administration for promising to ban the flavors that have hooked so many of my peers and, although my generation maybe the generation of damage control, we must work together to protect teens like us and younger children from the dangers of vaping and e-cigarettes." PARTICIPANTS WITH SIGNS SAYING "FLAVORS HOOK KIDS," "SEE THRU THE SMOKE," "BACK TO SCHOOL, NOT BACK TO JUUL" (SOUNDBITE) (English) TEENAGER IMPACTED BY VAPING EPIDEMIC, PHILIP FUHRMAN, SAYING: "I started juuling with the mint pod, and I liked it, because it felt cool in my throat, and every one of my friends who still juuls I know started with a flavor and still uses a flavor. This has become the social norm. Some of my friends are now trying to quit because of the new data that has come out, but it is, honestly, just too hard to do without help. Something has to be done and this caucus, I think, is the place where it's gonna get done." PARTICIPANTS WITH SIGNS SAYING "#ENDYOUTHVAPING" NEW YORK, NEW YORK, UNITED STATES (SEPTEMBER 19, 2019) (REUTERS) (SOUNDBITE) (English) AMERICAN MEDICAL ASSOCIATION, PRESIDENT, PATRICE HARRIS, SAYING: "Well, certainly, with their recent seven deaths, and hundreds of hospitalizations, and those who are suffering from long illnesses, and out of an abundance of caution, the AMA released our recommendation last week that people should avoid the use of e-cigarettes and vaping. There are certain known regarding the dangers of nicotine, the dangers of nicotine particularly in youth, regarding their brain development, and, of course, we know the issues around combustible cigarettes. And, so, but there are so many unknowns with this current epidemic. So, again. Out of an abundance of caution, we recommend that everyone avoid the use of these products." WASHINGTON, D.C., UNITED STATES (SEPTEMBER 19, 2019) (REUTERS) ENDING OF CAUCUS'S PRESS CONFERENCE
- Embargoed: 3rd October 2019 21:03
- Keywords: Tom Suozzi Chris Stewart Congressional Caucus to End the Youth Vaping Epidemic vaping and e-cigarette use Patrice Harris American Medical Association
- Location: WASHINGTON, D.C. + NEW YORK, NEW YORK, UNITED STATES
- City: WASHINGTON, D.C. + NEW YORK, NEW YORK, UNITED STATES
- Country: USA
- Topics: Lawmaking,Government/Politics
- Reuters ID: LVA001AXBRKNB
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: U.S. politicians, such as Congressmen Tom Souzzi (D-NY) and Peter King (R-NY), announced on Thursday (September 19) a new bipartisan initiative to fight vaping and e-cigarettes.
"We want to ban flavored cigarettes permanently in legislation, not just requiring on the administration to do it, said Souzzi. "We want to raise the federal tax, not only on cigarettes from one dollar to three dollars, but also put us to the same tax on vaping products as well for an equivalent three dollar tax."
The announcement came just hours after as U.S. health officials had said there are now 530 confirmed and probable cases and seven deaths from severe lung-related illnesses tied to vaping, and there are no signs that the trend is easing.
That's up from 380 cases reported a week ago as health officials link more illnesses and deaths to vaping. Three-fourths of the cases are male, and two-thirds are between the ages of 18 and 34.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is now investigating more than 150 products and substances and said it has activated its criminal investigations arm to explore the supply chain of vaping products and identify the cause of the illnesses.
(Production: Aleksandra Michalska) - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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