Trone, Krishnamoorthi Introduce Legislation to Curb Youth Vaping
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Hannah Muldavin, Hannah.Muldavin@mail.house.gov
Trone, Krishnamoorthi Introduce Legislation to Curb Youth Vaping
WASHINGTON — Today, U.S. Representatives David Trone (D-MD) and Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-IL) introduced the Accurate Reporting of Smoking Variants Act to help doctors and researchers better understand the impact of the alarming rate of e-cigarette use among America’s young people.
Recent studies from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention show that over 10% of middle school students and over 27% of high school students reported using e-cigarettes in the past 30 days. This equates to about 5.4 million young people, a significant increase from the 3.6 million who reported e-cigarette use in 2018. The highly addictive nicotine in e-cigarettes can harm brain development and may increase the likelihood of using cigarettes in the future.
While electronic health records (EHRs) allow doctors to record whether a patient uses cigarettes or cigars, EHRs don’t currently provide options for doctors to record data regarding the use of e-cigarettes or other smoking variants. This legislation would require the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology to ensure that EHRs allow doctors to record vaping and e-cigarette use, just like the records allow for cigarettes and cigars. This change would allow for health care providers and researchers to better understand the prevalence of e-cigarette usage, understand the long-term health impacts of these products, and develop strategies to curb vaping among young people.
“I’ve heard from parents across Maryland about the alarming increase in youth vaping. We can’t ignore this public health crisis,” said Congressman David Trone. “In order to reduce youth vaping, we need to collect and understand the data behind the youth vaping epidemic. The Accurate Reporting of Smoking Variants Act will do just that. Congressman Krishnamoorthi is a champion for youth vaping prevention, and I am honored to work with him on this important issue.”
“We know an alarming number of middle and high school kids are addicted to e-cigarettes, but there remains much to be learned about the scope of this epidemic,” said Congressman Raja Krishnamoorthi, Co-Founder of the Congressional Caucus to End the Youth Vaping Epidemic. “Recording data about the use of e-cigarettes in electronic health records is an important step towards understanding the prevalence of youth vaping and bringing it to an end.”
To read bill text, click here.
To read a bill summary, click here.
Congressman David Trone was elected to the House of Representatives in November 2018 to serve the 6th District of Maryland, which includes all or part of Montgomery, Frederick, Washington, Allegany, and Garrett Counties. Trone serves on the Education and Labor, Foreign Affairs, and Joint Economic Committees, where he is fighting to make progress on issues that matter to Marylanders, including the opioid epidemic, criminal justice reform, and funding for medical research.
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