Pallone Joins Tobacco Free Kids NJ for a Virtual Discussion on National Take Down Tobacco Day
Washington, DC – Congressman Frank Pallone, Jr. (NJ-06) joined Tobacco Free Kids NJ and representatives from the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia and the New Jersey Prevention Network today for a virtual discussion on efforts to combat the youth vaping epidemic.
April 1st marks National Take Down Tobacco Day, a day of anti-smoking activism to raise awareness and encourage young people to be tobacco-free. In 2019, 27 percent of high school students in New Jersey reported using smokeless tobacco products at least one time in the past 30 days.
As Chairman of the Energy and Commerce Committee, Pallone has been a key leader in the effort to protect young people from the dangers of tobacco products. Earlier this month, Pallone led efforts to include a provision in the federal omnibus spending bill that empowered the Food and Drug Administration to regulate synthetic nicotine products. Following passage of this important provision, Pallone wrote to leading synthetic nicotine manufacturers questioning the marketing of their products to kids and teens. In 2020, Pallone's comprehensive bill to address the youth vaping epidemic and prohibit all flavored tobacco products, including e-cigarettes, passed in the House of Representatives .
"Tobacco use is the number one cause of preventable death in the United States. We will not allow Big Tobacco to prey upon our children with slick new products, purposefully designed to get kids addicted to nicotine," Pallone said. "That's why I've fought to protect young people from products that are purposefully designed to get kids hooked on tobacco and nicotine. I want to thank everyone who joined us today and applaud their dedication and hard work in our fight against the youth vaping epidemic."
"The Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids applauds Chairman Pallone for his strong leadership in working to end the youth e-cigarette epidemic and protect America's kids from the tobacco industry. We stand with Chairman Pallone in working to eliminate flavored tobacco products that addict and harm our kids, including flavored e-cigarettes, menthol cigarettes and flavored cigars, and we urge the FDA to take action to eliminate these products without further delay. We also appreciate his leadership in giving the FDA authority to regulate synthetic nicotine and closing a loophole manufacturers have used to market flavored e-cigarettes to kids," said Matthew L. Myers, President of the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids.
Video of the event is available here.