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Congressional Report Details E-Cigarette Marketing that Entices Kids,
Underscores Urgent Need for FDA Regulation
WASHINGTON, April 14, 2014 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The following is
a statement of Susan M. Liss, Executive Director, Campaign for
Tobacco-Free Kids
An investigative report released today by 11 members of Congress
provides some of the most detailed evidence to date that electronic
cigarettes manufacturers are using the same slick marketing tactics
long used to market regular cigarettes to kids. These tactics include
TV and radio ads that reach youth audiences; sponsorships and free
samples at youth-oriented events such as auto races and music
festivals; celebrity spokespeople who depict e-cigarette smoking as
glamorous; and sweet, kid-friendly flavors with names like Cherry
Crush, Chocolate Treat, Peachy Keen and Grape Mint. The report finds
that many e-cigarette companies also use social media to promote their
products and have widely varying policies regarding sales to minors,
with one company reporting that that it does not have any policy
barring sales to minors.
This report underscores the urgent need for the Food and Drug
Administration to regulate e-cigarettes and take action to prevent
their marketing and sales to kids, as it is authorized to do under the
2009 Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act. The FDA stated
more than three years ago that it planned to assert jurisdiction over
e-cigarettes and all other tobacco products, and it sent draft
regulations to the White House Office of Management and Budget more
than six months ago. But these regulations have yet to be issued.
Many of the marketing tactics being used by e-cigarette manufacturers
are now illegal for regular cigarettes because they have been found to
be effective at enticing kids to smoke. In addition, federal law
prohibits the sale of cigarettes and other tobacco products to
minors. However, federal regulations currently do not apply to
e-cigarettes.
The new congressional report shows that the Administration's failure
to regulate e-cigarettes is putting our kids at risk. It is
unacceptable that it has taken the Administration so long to act while
e-cigarette use and marketing has grown rapidly. As the congressional
report concludes, "e-cigarette companies are taking advantage of the
regulatory vacuum that currently exists to market their products to
youth."
We applaud the Senate and House members for pursuing this
investigation and pushing for strong action to protect our children
and the nation's health. The report was compiled by Senator Richard J.
Durbin (D-IL), Representative Henry A. Waxman (D-CA), Senators Tom
Harkin (D-IA), John D. Rockefeller IV (D-WV), Richard Blumenthal
(D-CT), Edward J. Markey (D-MA), Sherrod Brown (D-OH), Jack Reed
(D-RI), Barbara Boxer (D-CA), Jeff Merkley (D-OR), and Representative
Frank Pallone Jr. (D-NJ).
The new report stems from an investigation of e-cigarettes launched by
the lawmakers in September. They wrote to the chief executives of
nine e-cigarette companies, asking them to respond to specific
questions about their marketing and sales practices. Supplemental
information was gathered from company websites and other publicly
available sources.
Like cigarette manufacturers, E-cigarette makers claim they don't
market to kids. But they're using the same themes and tactics tobacco
companies have long used to market regular cigarettes to kids. Given
these marketing tactics, it isn't surprising that the Centers for
Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) found youth e-cigarette use more
than doubled from 2011 to 2012. The percentage of high school
students who reported ever using e-cigarettes jumped from 4.7 percent
to 10 percent. The CDC estimated that 1.78 million U.S. youth had
tried e-cigarettes as of 2012.
The colorful, flavored bottles of liquid nicotine refills for
e-cigarettes have also caused a burgeoning number of calls to poison
control centers, the CDC reported earlier this month. Such calls
tripled between 2012 and 2013. More than 50 percent of these calls to
poison hotlines involve incidents involving children aged five and
under, CDC researchers found.
Responsibly marketed and properly regulated, e-cigarettes could
benefit public health if they help significantly reduce the number of
people who use conventional cigarettes and die of tobacco-related
disease. However, they also pose serious potential threats to public
health. They could serve as a gateway to nicotine addiction and use
of regular cigarettes by kids and other non-users. They could reduce
the number of smokers who quit if smokers use them in addition to, and
not instead of, regular cigarettes. If they continue to be
irresponsibly marketed, they could make smoking look glamorous again
and undermine decades of work to reduce youth smoking. Effective
regulation by the FDA and the states is needed to minimize the
potential harms of e-cigarettes and maximize any potential benefits.
Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20080918/CFTFKLOGO
SOURCE Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids
-0- 04/14/2014
/CONTACT: Peter Hamm, 202-296-5469
/Photo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20080918/CFTFKLOGO
PRN Photo Desk photodesk@prnewswire.com
/Web Site: http://www.tobaccofreekids.org
CO: Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids
ST: District of Columbia
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