The Senate Is Debating Raising The Smoking Age To 21

Two senators are introducing bipartisan legislation to raise the federal smoking age to 21. Kentucky Republican Mitch McConnell and Virginia Democrat Tim Kaine both come from tobacco producing states. McConnell is also the Senate Majority Leader.

The bill is aimed primarily at curbing teenage vaping. The FDA says vaping has reached epidemic levels among teens. Most vape juice in e-cigarettes contains varying levels of nicotine. On the Senate floor, McConnell said young brains are still developing and can be hurt by nicotine.

Stats are the reason Congress is concerned. Last year, the number of high school students who said they currently used tobacco products increased by about 38-percent, the CDC found in its annual National Youth Tobacco Survey. The agency blamed the increase on e-cigarettes. The number of high school students in the survey who said they had vaped in the last 30 days surged by almost 78-percent from 2017 to 2018.

Source:CNBC


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