Bill to raise legal age to buy tobacco products to 21 fails on 4-6 committee vote; bill's effectiveness questioned, called 'PR move'-HEALTHYLIVE

Sen. Steve Meredith, middle, with Altria Vice President
David Fernandez, right, and Juul Labs lobbyist Jennifer
Cunningham on his bill to raise the legal age for buying
tobacco products. (Photo: Adam Beam, The Associated Press)

A bill to raise the legal age to buy tobacco products from 18 to 21 in Kentucky was voted down by the Senate Agriculture Committee, prompting a standing ovation from many in attendance, Adam Beam reports for The Associated Press.

"Where I come from, tobacco is still king," said Republican Sen. Stan Humphries, a Trigg County tobacco farmer who then voted against Senate Bill 249 on Feb. 25.

Historically, the tobacco industry has opposed efforts to restrict tobacco use from people who older than 18, the age Americans can register to vote and join the military, but at least one company is supporting such bills as the "bets its future on e-cigarettes and other vapor products," Beam reports. "In December, Altria — one of the world's largest tobacco companies — purchased a $13 billion stake in Juul," by far the leading maker of an electronic cigarette that is the favorite of teenagers.

Last week, Virginia, where Altria subsidiary Philip Morris is based, became the seventh state to raise the to age to 21. Altria Vice President David Fernandez told the Kentucky committee, "Putting tobacco on par with alcohol makes sense and we do hope that doing that will also persuade policymakers to approach tobacco regulation a bit more reasonably,"

Senate Bill 249's sponsor, Sen. Stephen Meredith, R-Leitchfield, pointed out the health reasons to pass the bill, including an oft-cited fact that tobacco-related illnesses cost Kentucky $2 billion each year, including $600 million from Medicaid, Beam reports.

Committee Chairman Paul Hornback, R-Shelbyville, made an economic argument, warning that the Food and Drug Administration "could put Kentucky 'out of the tobacco business' with its potential rulings impacting the sale of e-cigarettes and other vapor products because of concerns about their impacts on youth smoking rates."

But it wasn't enough the bill failed on a 4-6 vote.

"Hornback indicated lawmakers could try to vote on the bill again before adjourning next month," Beam writes. "But it appears the bill, or any other tobacco-prevention bill, would have a tough time passing the state legislature." He noted that a bill to make all school properties and events tobacco-free has stalled in the House.

The latest Kentucky Health Issues Poll found that 56 percent of Kentucky adults support raising the legal age to buy tobacco products to 21.

According to a 2015 Institute of Medicine report, such a law would reduce the smoking rate by about 12 percent and smoking-related deaths by 10 percent over the long term. The report adds that among teens ages 15 to 17, such a law would decrease initiation of tobacco use 25 percent, said the news release about the poll.

Ben Chandler, CEO of the Foundation for a Healthy Kentucky, said after the meeting, "We have an epidemic of youth e-cigarette use in Kentucky and the nation that, in less than a year, has erased years of progress in protecting kids from nicotine and secondhand tobacco emissions," and called the bill a public-relations maneuver: "The tobacco industry's PR move failed."

Chandler said such a bill should "include more severe penalties on retailers who sell these products to underage youth without taking reasonable precautions to verify age. By supporting a bill without these measures, the tobacco industry knows it will be ineffective."

from Kentucky Health News https://ift.tt/2XsJFaf

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