DOVER, Del. – Governor John Carney on Thursday released the following statement on the General Assembly’s final passage of Senate Bill 25, which will raise the sales age for tobacco products from 18 to 21:

“Preventing smoking is the best thing we can do to improve the health of our state, and reduce the growth of health care costs over time. The use of tobacco-related products is the leading cause of preventable death and disability in Delaware and across the country. Tobacco-related illnesses, such as lung cancer and heart disease, claim the lives of 1,400 Delawareans each year, and treatment of those illnesses costs Delaware families, businesses and the State more than $530 million annually. We expect this legislation will help curb the impact of smoking on Delaware families by preventing more young Delawareans from picking up this dangerous habit in the first place. I want to thank members of the General Assembly for their partnership on this important legislation, and I look forward to signing this bill into law soon.”

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DOVER, Del. – Governor John Carney on Tuesday released the following statement on the vote in the Delaware Senate to pass Senate Bill 25, which would raise the sales age for tobacco products from 18 to 21:

“Preventing smoking is the best thing we can do to improve the health of our state, and reduce the growth of health care costs over time. We know that use of tobacco-related products is the leading cause of preventable death and disability in Delaware and across the country. Tobacco-related illnesses, such as lung cancer and heart disease, claim the lives of 1,400 Delawareans each year, and treatment of those illnesses costs Delaware families, businesses and the State more than $530 million annually. We expect this legislation will help curb the impact of smoking on Delaware families by preventing more young Delawareans from picking up this dangerous habit in the first place. Thank you to members of the Senate for passing this legislation, and to Senator Townsend for his leadership on this important issue.”

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Related news:
Governor Carney Announces Support for Legislation to Raise Tobacco Sales Age
Support Raising the Tobacco Sales Age From 18 to 21

Protecting the Health of our Young People, and our State’s Future, by Raising the Minimum Sales Age of Tobacco Products from 18 to 21

Op-ed by Karyl T. Rattay, MD, MS, Director, Division of Public Health, Delaware Department of Health and Social Services

It’s a fact that most smokers start using tobacco as youth: Eighty-nine percent of current adult Delaware smokers started before the age of 21; and slightly over 17 percent started between the ages of 18 and 20, according to 2017 Delaware Adult Tobacco Survey (ATS) data.

Nicotine addiction keeps young people using tobacco products which increases the risk of physical damage to their bodies. Exposure to nicotine can have lasting effects on adolescent brain development, and can disrupt the formation of brain circuits that control attention, learning, and susceptibility to addiction. Youth and young adults who use tobacco are also at risk for developing early abdominal aortic atherosclerosis, which affects the flow of blood to vital organs; reduced lung growth, which increases the risk of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) later in life; and reduced lung function. Adolescent girls and young women who become addicted to nicotine and use tobacco during pregnancy increase the risk of a premature birth or even the death of their child.

An emerging policy intervention to help reduce youth and young adult initiation of, and access to, tobacco products is to increase the legal age for the sale of these products from 18 to 21 years old. These are known as “Tobacco 21 or T21 laws.” Research shows that youth often turn to older friends and classmates as sources of cigarettes. Increasing the tobacco age to 21 in Delaware would reduce the likelihood that a high school student will be able to legally purchase tobacco products for themselves, other students, or underage friends. Adolescents age 15-17 would also have a harder time passing themselves off as 21-year-olds. As many tobacco users between 18 and 21 move from experimental use to regular, daily use, a T21 law would prevent this as well. The Institute of Medicine (IOM) estimates that increasing the age of sale to 21 would decrease long-term tobacco use by about 12 percent. And, it could decrease tobacco-related deaths by 10 percent.

Sen. Bryan Townsend introduced T21 legislation in Delaware last week. SB25, which has the support of Gov. John Carney, additionally imposes a civil penalty for sales to 18- to 21-year-olds, prohibits parents and guardians from purchasing tobacco products for minors, and prohibits individuals under age 21 from entering vapor establishments.

Seven states, including our neighboring states of New Jersey and Virginia, have passed T21 laws. Seventy percent of Delawareans surveyed by the 2017 ATS support a T21 law. A majority of current tobacco product users surveyed also support such a law.

As the Director of the Division of Public Health (DPH) and a board-certified pediatrician, I support SB25 because it is a population-based health initiative that promotes health, prevents disease, averts a lifelong addiction to nicotine and steers Delawareans away from the dangers of tobacco use.

The toll of tobacco use is staggering. Tobacco use is still the leading cause of preventable death and disability in Delaware and the United States. Our latest cancer data report lists tobacco use or smoking as risk factors for 16 cancers.

Of particular concern to us here in Delaware is lung cancer. Our most recent cancer statistics indicate lung cancer accounted for 14 percent of all newly diagnosed cancer cases and 30 percent of all cancer deaths. An estimated 85 to 90 percent of all lung cancer cases are caused by tobacco use, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

Additionally, secondhand smoke is a known cause of low birthweight, Sudden Infant Death Syndrome, and lung problems, asthma, and ear infections among children.

Every year, nearly 1,400 adult Delawareans die from smoking-related illnesses, according to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates. The U.S. Surgeon General warns that an estimated 17,000 Delaware youth who are now under age 18, will ultimately die prematurely from smoking-related illnesses if current trends continue.

Despite our great strides in reducing tobacco use, especially reducing youth smoking rates, we still have a long way to go. We are seeing an alarming increase in the use of electronic cigarettes. Although only 6.2 percent of Delaware high school students smoked regular cigarettes in 2017, nearly 20 percent used some type of tobacco product. Also, a 2018 Institute of Medicine report indicates young people who begin with e-cigarettes are more likely to transition to combustible cigarette use, and are at risk for suffering associated health burdens. We must take innovative actions.

For more than 30 years, Delaware has been a national leader in establishing tobacco prevention interventions that help protect the health of all Delawareans. We all breathe easier in public places and workplaces thanks to the Delaware General Assembly’s passage of the Clean Indoor Air Act. Our legislators created the Delaware Health Fund which helps the state maintain a comprehensive tobacco prevention and cessation program. The creation of the Delaware Cancer Consortium led to a large group of dedicated people who continuously make our cancer prevention, detection, and treatment system work better. The DCC recommends enacting legislation to increase the age to 21 to purchase cigarettes and other tobacco products.

DPH and our health partners have worked hard to save lives and safeguard Delawareans from a diminished quality of life by guiding them toward healthy behaviors. Delaware should join the states that are passing T21 laws – and remain a national leader in protecting the health of our citizens.

Senate Bill 25 would raise the legal age to purchase tobacco products from 18 to 21

DOVER, Del. – Surrounded by members of the General Assembly, advocates, students, and health care professionals, Governor John Carney on Tuesday announced his support for Senate Bill 25 – legislation that would raise the legal age for sales of tobacco and vape products from 18 to 21.

This legislation aims to protect youth in Delaware from the dangers of tobacco use and nicotine addiction. Tobacco use remains the leading cause of preventable death and disability in Delaware and the United States, claiming 1,400 lives in Delaware each year, according to federal data. Treatment of tobacco-related illnesses costs Delaware $532 million annually.

“We know the dangers of tobacco use, and anything we can do to prevent more Delawareans from starting to smoke is a step in the right direction,” said Governor Carney. “Raising the legal tobacco sales age from 18 to 21 will help reduce the number of young people who use tobacco products, and hopefully prevent more young people from trying tobacco products in the first place. Over time, we hope and expect this change will reduce the toll of tobacco-related illness. And it should curb the cost of treating those illnesses – costs that today are funded by all Delaware taxpayers, families, and businesses through higher health insurance rates and treatment programs. Thank you to members of the General Assembly who are committed to this effort, and to our health care community for your support.”

“Everyone knows the costs of smoking: lung disease, cancer, higher insurance costs – and worst of all, a shorter life,” said Senator Bryan Townsend. “But not everyone is aware that after years of convincing more and more young people to never pick up the habit, tobacco products are now pushing their way back into our schools, reaching children as young as 12 with e-cigarette flavors like bubblegum and cotton candy. We need to explore every option we have to fight back against this trend and keep our kids healthy and smoke-free. SB 25 is a great start. Cities and states that have already enacted this policy are seeing underage smoking rates drop by a third or more. That’s more than just an impressive statistic – it’s lives saved, lengthened, and improved from middle school onward. We owe it to our constituents to take this kind of action and I look forward to working with my colleagues in the General Assembly to get this bill on the Governor’s desk as soon as possible.”

“Four out of five adult smokers became addicted, daily smokers before age 21. Raising the age to buy tobacco products would mean that fewer adults would develop a lifelong habit that carries life-shortening consequences,” said Representative Melissa Minor-Brown, the lead House sponsor. “Tobacco use costs Delaware more than $500 million each year in direct medical-related costs, but it costs families much more in terms of loves ones taken far too soon.”

Ninety-five percent of adults who smoke started before the age of 21, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The years of young adulthood between the ages of 18 and 21 are considered a critical period when many smokers transition from experimental smoking to regular, daily use of tobacco products. Reducing the availability of tobacco products for individuals in this age range should also decrease the number of high school-age Delawareans exposed to tobacco products, and reduce the number adult smokers in Delaware over time.

Tobacco use also has a significant economic impact on health care spending in Delaware. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports that tobacco use costs Delaware $532 million each year in direct medical-related costs. Medicaid funds for $95 million of those costs annually. An estimated 17,000 Delaware youth who are alive now, will die prematurely in the future from a smoking-related illness, according to federal data.

“The financial savings in health care spending that will result from this change will certainly be significant,” said Dr. Kara Odom Walker, Secretary of the Delaware Department of Health and Social Services. “But those savings pale in comparison to the true benefits of this legislation — improved quality of life for all Delawareans and the chance to keep more people from starting a habit that will shorten their lives by 10 years, according to the CDC.”

“Tobacco products, including the liquid cartridges used in e-cigarettes and vaping pens, contain highly addictive nicotine and other chemicals known to cause cancer, heart disease, and respiratory diseases such as Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease. Tobacco use remains the leading cause of preventable death and disability in our state,” said Dr. Karyl Rattay, Director of the Division of Public Health. “It is our duty to protect today’s youth and young adults from tobacco, including e-cigarettes, and vaping initiation because their brains are more susceptible to the effects of nicotine. Nicotine can disrupt the formation of brain circuits that control attention, learning, and susceptibility to addiction, an issue with which Delaware already struggles.”

“A key component of Tobacco 21 legislation is the inclusion of e-cigarettes,” said Deb Brown, Chief Mission Officer of the American Lung Association. “As stated in our ‘State of Tobacco Control’ report, the need for Delaware to take action to protect youth from tobacco is more urgent than ever, with youth e-cigarette use reaching epidemic levels due to a 78 percent increase in high school e-cigarette use from 2017 to 2018. The Lung Association is proud to stand with Governor Carney and Senator Townsend on this lifesaving legislation and our hope is that other state leaders step up and stand with us to save our next generation from a lifetime of tobacco addiction.”

“This measure is very important for the health of young adults in our state,” said Senator Anthony Delcollo. “I am proud to stand together for this bipartisan effort to limit the damaging effects of nicotine addiction and cancer in Delaware.”

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Rewatch the press conference here.

DOVER – The Division of Public Health (DPH) is advising parents and teachers to be aware of a recent trend among youth known as “JUULing.” JUUL is a brand of e-cigarette that looks similar to a flash drive and can be charged in the USB port of a computer.

JUULs can be appealing to youth for a variety of reasons. Pods come in a variety of fruit and candy flavors, the devices can be difficult to distinguish from a real flash drive, and the vapor dissipates quickly instead of hanging in the air like a smoke trail. This has caused concern am

ong school administrators across the country as youth have taken to “JUULing” on school property, even in class.

A Truth Initiative study found that 37 percent of 15 to 24-year-old JUUL users are uncertain whether the product contains nicotine. The study also found that JUUL users don’t refer to use of these products as “e-cigarette use” or “vaping” but rather as “JUULing, which leads them to believe it is safer.

“There is no safe form of tobacco,” said DPH Director Dr. Karyl Rattay. “Students are under the impression that “JUULing” is safe and that these products don’t have nicotine, however, that is not the case. We believe it is important to educate parents and teachers about this trend, and e-cigarettes in general, and that it is critical that students understand the dangers posed by JUULs and nicotine as well.”

According to the product label, just one pod used in a JUUL allows for 200 puffs and contains the same amount of nicotine as one pack of cigarettes. Nicotine is highly addictive and can affect the developing brains of youth. In less than five years, e-cigarettes and vape products have become the fastest-growing sector of the American tobacco industry. Nationally and in Delaware, e-cigarettes are the most commonly used tobacco product among youth.

Among teenagers, experimentation with electronic or e-cigarettes became popular in 2015. According to the 2015 Delaware Youth Risk Behavior Survey (YRBS), 23.5 percent of public high school students had used e-cigarettes in the past month, and 2.3 percent were smoking or “vaping” e-cigarettes daily. Dual use of tobacco products is also a concern. In Delaware, 32.5 percent of high school e-cigarette users reported also using cigars, and 27 percent reported also using cigarettes. In addition, 37 percent of e-cigarette users reported never smoking cigarettes before starting to use e-cigarettes.

In 2014, Delaware banned the sale of e-cigarettes to minors, and a year later the state expanded the Delaware Clean Indoor Air Act to include prohibiting the use of e-cigarettes and other electronic vapor devices in workplaces and indoor public place.

While research is under way to determine the health effects of e-cigarette usage, the aerosol from e-cigarettes contains harmful substances such as nicotine, lead products and cancer-causing agents, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

DPH is reaching out to schools, school nurses and wellness centers, and pediatrician’s offices with a Health Alert on the topic of “JUULing” and has increased social media messaging around the issue. The Division has previously developed targeted outreach campaigns to address e-cigarette use overall, and will continue to provide education in schools and the community. For more information on “JUULing” visit Tobacco Free Kids at: Tobacco-Free Kids on “JUULing”:  https://www.tobaccofreekids.org/assets/factsheets/0394.pdf. For more information e-cigarettes, visit https://www.cdc.gov/tobacco/basic_information/e-cigarettes/index.htm or for more information on what Delaware is doing to address youth tobacco and e-cigarette use, visit http://www.thedirtytruth.com or https://www.healthydelaware.org/Individuals/Tobacco/Vaping.

A person who is deaf, hard-of-hearing, deaf-blind or speech-disabled can call the DPH phone number above by using TTY services. Dial 7-1-1 or 800-232-5460 to type your conversation to a relay operator, who reads your conversation to a hearing person at DPH. The relay operator types the hearing person’s spoken words back to the TTY user. To learn more about TTY availability in Delaware, visit http://delawarerelay.com.

Delaware Health and Social Services is committed to improving the quality of the lives of Delaware’s citizens by promoting health and well-being, fostering self-sufficiency, and protecting vulnerable populations. DPH, a division of DHSS, urges Delawareans to make healthier choices with the 5-2-1 Almost None campaign: eat 5 or more fruits and vegetables each day, have no more than 2 hours of recreational screen time each day (includes TV, computer, gaming), get 1 or more hours of physical activity each day, and drink almost no sugary beverages.