On the recordNovember 19, 2019
on September 11, President Donald Trump held a press conference with the First Lady in the Oval Office. He announced that his administration would finally be taking bold action to combat our Nation's youth vaping epidemic. The epidemic is what the Food and Drug Administration characterized as the vaping that is going on in schools across America today--not just high schools, where 27 percent of the students are currently vaping, but middle schools and grade schools as well. Seated next to the President on September 11 in the Oval Office was the First Lady. On the other side was the Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services, Alex Azar. Directly across from the President was then-Acting Commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration, Dr. Ned Sharpless. At the press conference, President Trump stated: We have a problem in this country . . . and it is called ``vaping''--especially vaping as it pertains to innocent children. . . . And we're going to have to do something about it. Then Secretary Azar said: An entire generation of children risk becoming addicted to nicotine. . . . So with the President's support, the Food and Drug Administration intends to finalize a guidance document that would . . . require that all flavors other than tobacco flavor would be removed from the market. This would include mint and menthol flavoring, as well as candy flavors, bubblegum flavor, fruit flavor, and alcohol flavor.…





