Ed Markey — Markey: Big Tobacco Must Stop Marketing E-Cigarette's to Children

and and I thank you uh Senator blumthal and Senator Merkley thank you for organizing this Senator Warren um and to everyone who is here um Mr President with Halloween Just days away I'd like to share some scary facts about nicotine nicotine is the main ingredient in traditional cigarettes and is also found in the new cigarette the ecigarette four Decades of scientific research have proven the following first nicotine is addictive second nicotine affects brain development third nicotine combined with tobacco is responsible for claiming millions of lives these facts are true but for Years big tobacco willfully consistently publicly and falsely denied them those lies were exposed at Congressional hearings and thanks to the tireless efforts of anti-smoking and and public health Advocates traditional cigarette smoking has declined from 50% of all adults to 18% of all adults in the United States how many millions of lives have been saved because of that but big tobacco and the ecigarette industry are like the undead traditional cigarettes are being supplanted by ecigarettes today ecigarette sales in the United States alone tops one billion dollar and ecigarette use is growing as fast as the students who are smoking them the use of ecigarettes among middle and high school students has skyrocketed tripling from 2013 to 2014 accounting for upwards of 1% of all high school students that's when my father began to smoke two packs of camels a day day my father died from smoking two packs of camels a day nearly 2.5 million Young Americans currently use ecigarettes why the explosion in youth ecigarette smoking it's because big tobacco and the ecigarette industry are marketing their dangerous nicotine delivery product to children and to teens big tobacco would have our young people think that ecigarettes s are a treat but they are a cruel cruel trick on those children the younger a person is when he or she starts using products containing nicotine the more difficult it is to quit and we know from years of research that flavors attract young people that's why Congress explicitly ban cigarettes with flavors like cherry and bubblegum because of their appeal to young people so it's very disappointing but not surprising that new nicotine delivery products are available in a myriad of flavors from cotton candy to vanilla cupcake to cocacola I wonder what this industry is trying to do that got outlawed for the traditional cigarette industry you don't have to be a detective to figure it out because over the past decade we have made great St strides in educating children and teens about the dangers of smoking and now we cannot allow ecigarettes to Snuff out the progress we've made preventing nicotine addiction and its deadly consequences we need to ban the marketing of ecigarettes to kids and teens we need to ban the use of fruit and candy flavored flavorings clearly meant to attract children we the online sales of ecigarettes to keep them out of the hands of children the dangers of E cigarettes are clear every day we wait is another day Young Americans can fall prey to harmful products pushed by the tobacco industry last year at a Commerce Committee hearing when I asked several ecigarette company leaders to commit to ceasing the sale of these types of flavored products a few agreed but the vast majority have not and will not and just today the ecigarette industry trade group The Tobacco vapor electronic cigarette Association threatened the the FDA after posting on its website what the association purports is leaked draft industry guidance under the new deeming rule tweeting quote the FDA needs to know we mean business the association got it partially right the ecigarette industry should be put out of business my father smoked those two packs of camels back then it was a cool thing to do for decades big tobacco denied that there was any linkage between smoking and cancer my father died because of that denial of the tobacco industry and the cooperation of the United States Congress today's electronic cigarettes are no better than the Joe camels of the past because ecigarettes children in teens are still getting addicted to nicotine and putting their health and Futures at grave risk I urge om to give America's youth a real Halloween treat by finalizing the fda's deeming rule and stopping the sale of these candy flavored poisons thank you and I yield back Mr President