WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH) is continuing efforts to protect children from e-cigarettes and liquid nicotine. Following the Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) final rule to expand its regulatory authority and oversight to include previously unregulated tobacco products like e-cigarettes and cigars, Brown joined his colleagues in sending a letter to the Commissioner of the FDA and the Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), applauding the release of the final rule. With this new authority, the FDA has the tools needed to crack down on tobacco companies that use manipulative marketing to encourage children and teens to smoke e-cigarettes, cigars, pipe tobacco, and other tobacco products. In the letter, Brown urged the administration to move swiftly to implement this rule.

“We commend the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for finalizing the deeming rule that extends FDA regulatory authority to include all tobacco products, including e-cigarettes, cigars, and pipe tobacco, to protect the public’s health—and especially the health of the youngest Americans—from the harmful effects of tobacco,” wrote Brown in the letter. “It is unacceptable that tobacco companies are once again targeting children using the same tactics they once used to promote cigarettes. For this reason, we recognize this rule as an important step to prevent the youngest Americans from becoming a new generation of smokers and are committed to continue working together to swiftly ensure, through the product application process and other means, that children are fully protected from these harmful marketing and flavoring tactics for all tobacco products now subject to FDA’s regulatory authority.”

“There was an increase of 1500% in the number of exposures to e-cigarettes and liquid nicotine among young children during the 40-month study period – that is an epidemic by any definition,” said Dr. Gary Smith, senior author of the Pediatrics study and director of the Center for Injury Research and Policy at Nationwide Children’s Hospital. “The recently passed federal law requiring child resistant closures on liquid nicotine containers is an important first step, but further action is needed to adequately protect children from nicotine poisoning associated with e-cigarette use.”

“We are grateful to Senator Brown for his leadership efforts to regulate e-cigarettes and liquid nicotine, and protect children from these products,” said Henry Spiller, co-author on the study and director of the Central Ohio Poison Center at Nationwide Children’s Hospital. “For a young child, exposure to liquid nicotine can be very harmful – causing seizures, coma, respiratory arrest and even death.”

The letter follows a new research from the journal Pediatrics that notes an increase in cases of young children being poisoned by e-cigarettes or the liquid nicotine used to fill them. According to the study, children who are exposed to e-cigarettes and liquid nicotine are more than 2.5 times more likely to have a severe health outcome than those exposed to cigarettes, and in some cases, exposure has been deadly to children. The FDA’s final rule does not include requirements on child-safe packaging, which is why Brown continues to push for child-resistant requirements for liquid nicotine and related products.

Marketed with flavors appealing to children, like “Cotton Candy,” “Fruity Loops,” and “Gummi Bear,” small containers of liquid nicotine can contain enough nicotine to kill four small children. While children are protected from bleach, aspirin, and mouthwash with child-proof packaging, liquid nicotine packages are not required to be child-resistant. The Child Nicotine Poisoning Prevention Act – which Brown cosponsored – was signed into law in January 2016. It will codify the poison packaging protections articulated by the Poison Prevention Packaging Act and ensure these protections and requirements apply to all liquid nicotine containers. In addition, the legislation will preserve the FDA’s current authority in regard to packaging under the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act.

Brown has been a leader in efforts to protect children from the dangers of e-cigarettes and liquid nicotine. Over the past two years, Brown has sent more than 10 letters to the FDA and Office of Management and Budget (OMB) about this issue, urging the Administration to finalize the rules in a timely fashion.

The list of Senators also signing the letter include: U.S. Sens. Patty Murray (D-WA), Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), Barbara Boxer (D-CA), Richard J. Durbin (D-IL), Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), Al Franken (D-MN), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), Patrick Leahy (D-VT), Edward J. Markey (D-MA), Jeff Merkley (D-OR), Jack Reed (D-RI), Brian Schatz (D-HI), Charles Schumer (D-NY), Tom Udall (D-NM), Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), and Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI).

 

Full text of the letter is below.

 

The Honorable Sylvia M. Burwell
Secretary
U.S. Department of Health and Humans Services
200 Independence Avenue, SW
Washington, D.C. 20201

 

The Honorable Robert M. Califf
Commissioner
U.S. Food and Drug Administration
10903 New Hampshire Avenue
Silver Spring, M.D. 20993

 

Dear Secretary Burwell and Commissioner Califf,

We commend the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for finalizing the deeming rule that extends FDA regulatory authority to include all tobacco products, including e-cigarettes, cigars, and pipe tobacco, to protect the public’s health—and especially the health of the youngest Americans—from the harmful effects of tobacco. The deeming rule is a much-needed step to give the FDA crucial tools to prevent manufacturers and retailers of currently unregulated tobacco products from targeting our children and teens, and we urge your agencies to remain diligent in working quickly to further limit the effect and reach of these products on our nation’s youth. 

Public health awareness campaigns and FDA regulatory authority have been effective in preventing young people from becoming cigarette smokers, but tobacco companies continue to use manipulative marketing to encourage children and teens to smoke e-cigarettes, cigars, and other tobacco products. In fact, between 2011 and 2015, there was a ten-fold increase in e-cigarette use among high school students and a record-high of three million young adults –including middle-school kids– using e-cigarettes. Following the deeming rule, we believe there remain critical opportunities to further restrict marketing targeted to youth.  The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recently found an association between exposure to e-cigarette advertisements and use by middle and high school students.  As e-cigarette makers continue to target youth through channels that are already prohibited for cigarettes, like the sponsorship of sporting events and concerts, and television and radio advertisements, seven in ten young people are exposed to e-cigarette marketing, attracting millions of youth e-cigarette users. 

In addition, tobacco companies are producing e-cigarettes and other products in fruit and candy flavors, a practice not prohibited under the deeming rule. This is particularly concerning because children are more likely to use products with these types of flavors, and because children can purchase these previously unregulated products online without their parents’ knowledge. It is unacceptable that tobacco companies are once again targeting children using the same tactics they once used to promote cigarettes. For this reason, we recognize this rule as an important step to prevent the youngest Americans from becoming a new generation of smokers and are committed to continue working together to swiftly ensure, through the product application process and other means, that children are fully protected from these harmful marketing and flavoring tactics for all tobacco products now subject to FDA’s regulatory authority.  

Thank you again for taking this critical step to further protect our country’s health from the harmful effects of tobacco. We look forward to working together to ensure these protections, and additional protections, are implemented as quickly as possible.

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