WASHINGTON—U.S. Senator Mitt Romney (R-UT) today met with the Acting Commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to discuss the Administration’s announcement yesterday that it would ban all non-tobacco e-cigarette flavors. Following their meeting, Senator Romney released the following statement:
“I met this morning with the Acting Commissioner of the FDA to discuss the next steps we must take to solve this pervasive public health crisis,” Romney said. “With nearly a quarter of high school students vaping regularly, I believe there is a need for legislation which ensures that flavored vaping products are removed from the market. Secondly, we have to look at device design to ensure we are not making it easy to contaminate vaping products with hazardous substances. I am working on legislation that will address both of these concerns, as well as potentially applying the existing tobacco excise tax to e-cigarettes.”
U.S. Senators Dick Durbin (D-IL), Lisa Murkowski (R-AK), Maggie Hassan (D-NH), Patty Murray (D-WA), Jeff Merkley (D-OR), Mazie Hirono (D-HI), and Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) also attended today’s meeting.
Background:
- On Tuesday, Senator Romney urged the Secretary of Health and Human Services to consider a recall on e-cigarettes as the agency continues to investigate deaths and serious illnesses related to vaping.
- In June, Senators Romney and Mark Udall (D-NM) introduced the Smoke-Free Schools Act of 2019 to ban e-cigarette use in educational and childcare facilities.
- In April, he helped introduce the bipartisan Tobacco to 21 Act, legislation that would prohibit the sale of tobacco products, including e-cigarettes, to anyone under the age of 21.