House Lawmakers Decide Not to Tackle Respiratory Disease Outbreak: They Decide to Let More Kids Get Sick in Order to Protect a $2.5 Billion Illegal Industry

With more than 2,000 cases of severe respiratory failure--mostly among youth and young adults--and 42 deaths resulting from vaping-associated respiratory illness, one might expect that the House Energy and Commerce Committee would have donesomething to help curtail this outbreak when it voted yesterday on legislation to address the youth vaping crisis.While this week ' s newspaper headlines provided some information about the Committee ' s actions on the proposed youth vaping legislation--for example, that the bill, which bans e-cigarette flavors other than tobacco, passed by a 28-24 vote--those headlines only tell part of the story.The Rest of the StoryThe rest of the story is that the very members of the Committee who purported to be acting in the best interests of the health of the nation ' s youthblocked an effort to help curtail the terrible respiratory disease outbreak that currently represents the most acute and serious threat to the health of our nation ' s youth. And they did so in a way that protects a $2.5 billion illegal industry that is ravaging the health of our youth.According to anarticle byPolitico: " A Republican-backed amendment to make marijuana vapes subject to FDA regulation failed after Pallone urged a vote against the provision, saying it ' s not the focus of the legislation. "Not the focus of the legislation? You ' ve got to be kidding me!Youth are literally dying or getting life-threatening illnesses requiring mechanical ventilation (and in one case,...
Source: The Rest of the Story: Tobacco News Analysis and Commentary - Category: Addiction Source Type: blogs