WESTON, FLA. (WSVN) - - A South Florida Congresswoman has co-sponsored a bill to reduce the usage of electronic cigarettes among teenagers in the U.S.
U.S. Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, D-Fla., announced she will co-sponsor the “Protect Act” during a Friday press conference in Weston.
“We need to get these bastards and make sure they don’t kill another generation of Americans,” Wasserman Schultz said.
The bill would provide $500 million in funding for the Centers for Disease Control to address the usage of e-cigarettes among teenagers for the next five years.
“The funding would provide critical support for research, effective messaging to you, education campaigns, grant funding, and the development of evidence-based policies to prevent teenagers from vaping,” Wasserman Schultz said.
Ashlynn Nesmith, 15, was one of the estimated 3.6 million teenagers who vape.
“It took over,” Nesmith said. “It just kind of made me always focus on that and when I was going to have that next, so I was always in class thinking about when I was gonna go to the bathroom for that next or when I was going to get home and be in my room and have my Juul.”
Broward County School Board Member Robin Bartleman said Nesmith — like some — hid the habit in plain sight.
“What they do is take their little puff, and they blow it into their sleeve,” Bartleman said. “No one smells it. You don’t see a smoke. It is a huge, huge problem.”
Student Ashley Thompson said, “Students are vaping in class, right in front of teachers because they are so addicted.”
Erin Nesmith, Ashlynn’s mother, said she didn’t know that her daughter was addicted to vaping before it was too late.
“When I first saw a Juul device in my daughter’s backpack her freshman year of high school, and I had no idea it was an e-cigarette,” she said, “I thought it was a USB drive for a computer.”
The Nesmiths are joining a class-action lawsuit against Juul — one of the biggest names in the e-cigarette business.
In a statement to CNBC, Juul said they welcome “a productive dialogue as we continue to combat youth usage and help adult smokers switch from combustible cigarettes.”
Juul said it has already closed its social media accounts, which some see as their way of marketing to teens who tend to shop online.
The company said they have also enhanced their online age-verification system to stop the sale of non-tobacco and non-menthol flavors to retail outlets to try to keep their products out of reach of children.
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