Sec. 101. Findings
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The Congress finds the following: Tobacco products cause numerous serious diseases, including cancer, heart disease, and respiratory disease, and they contain nicotine, a highly addictive substance. According to the Surgeon General of the United States, adolescents are particularly vulnerable to the adverse effects of nicotine, and adolescent exposure to nicotine may have lasting adverse consequences for brain development. Youth use of electronic cigarettes and hookah (water pipe) has risen according to the National Youth Tobacco Survey released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the Food and Drug Administration, in April 2015.
Current use of electronic cigarettes among high school students tripled from 4.5 percent in 2013 to 13.4 percent in 2014 (compared to 1.5 percent in 2011); approximately 2,000,000 high school students currently use these products. Current use of electronic cigarettes among middle school students tripled from 1.1 percent in 2013 to 3.9 percent in 2014; approximately 450,000 middle school students currently use these products. Current use of hookah among high school students increased from 4.1 percent in 2011 to 9.4 percent in 2014.
Current use of cigars among high school students was 8.2 percent in 2014 (1,200,000 students). Current use of cigars among high school boys was 10.8 percent, about the same rate at which they smoke cigarettes (10.6 percent). The sale of electronic cigarettes, cigars, hookah, and other tobacco products over the internet, and through mail, fax, or phone orders, makes it cheaper and easier for children to obtain these products. Electronic cigarettes are being marketed in ways that appeal to youth, in the form of advertising using images that appeal to youth, advertisements on television and the internet, and sponsorships of events popular with youth, such as concerts and sporting events.
According to a study published in March 2015 in the Journal of the American Medical Association Pediatrics, 93.7 percent of youth participating in a study of internet electronic cigarette sales successfully purchased electronic cigarettes because the websites lacked adequate age-verification methods.