Senator Kaine Set To Hold Roundtable On E-Cig Use In Arlington

ARLINGTON, VA — Virginia Senator Tim Kaine is hoping to hear a variety of perspectives in his upcoming roundtable discussion on the epidemic of youth e-cigarette use.

The event will be held at Montessori Public School in Arlington on Friday.

Kaine will be joined in the discussion by students, teachers, counselors, parents, health experts and Virginia Secretary of Education Atif Qarni.

A central point of expected conversation is the Tobacco-Free Youth Act, Kaine's bipartisan bill he introduced along with Senator Mitch McConnel. The bill passed the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee in June, and hopes to raise the nationwide minimum age to buy tobacco products from 18 to 21.

Kaine was one of the first elected officials to raise concerns over youth access to flavored e-cigarettes. He penned a letter in April 2018 to both the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and JUUL Labs, Inc., in which he voiced his worry about how accessible the product was to underage individuals.

Kaine's office requested that the two organizations took a series of major steps to limit youth use of the product.

Kaine has taken an active approach to talking with constituents across Virginia about the vaping epidemic. He recently held roundtable styled discussions in Harrisonburg and Henrico to educate himself on how communities across the Commonwealth are responding to the increase in youth vaping.

As of Oct. 15, there have been 60 cases, including one reported death, associated with e-cigerettes in Virginia, according to the Virginia Department of Health.

Furthermore, 25 of the 60 cases of lung injury associated with e-ciggarette use in Virginia have been in Northern Virginia.

Arlington Public Schools released a statement Thursday on the potential health risks that vaping poses to students.

Students, teachers, parents and counselors from Arlington Public County Schools have been invited to the roundtable discussion, which is set to take place at 1:30 on Friday.

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