[Congressional Bills 118th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Res. 979 Introduced in House (IH)]
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118th CONGRESS
2d Session
H. RES. 979
Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives that public health
authorities and tobacco control advocates should encourage American
innovation and embrace harm reduction as part of the comprehensive
United States approach to tobacco control.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
January 29, 2024
Mr. Reschenthaler (for himself and Mr. Davis of North Carolina)
submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the Committee
on Energy and Commerce, and in addition to the Committee on Foreign
Affairs, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in
each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the
jurisdiction of the committee concerned
_______________________________________________________________________
RESOLUTION
Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives that public health
authorities and tobacco control advocates should encourage American
innovation and embrace harm reduction as part of the comprehensive
United States approach to tobacco control.
Whereas cigarette smoking remains one of the most preventable forms of
noncommunicable disease in the United States;
Whereas, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention--
(1) approximately 28,300,000 Americans smoke cigarettes on a regular
basis and more than 16,000,000 Americans live with a smoking-related
disease;
(2) approximately 27 of every 100 American Indian/Alaska Native adults,
approximately 12 of every 100 non-Hispanic African-American adults,
approximately 8 of every 100 Hispanic adults, and approximately 5 of every
100 non-Hispanic Asian adults are current cigarette smokers;
(3) approximately 20 of every 100 adults with a household income less
than $35,000 a year and approximately 14 of every 100 adults with a
household income between $35,000 and $74,999.99 are current smokers; and
(4) approximately 3 in 10 United States military veterans used some
form of tobacco product during their service, and smoking amongst United
States veterans is more than double the national average;
Whereas the best health outcome for current smokers is to quit altogether;
however the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates less
than 10 percent of adult smokers will successfully stop smoking
cigarettes in a given year;
Whereas the bipartisan Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act (P.L.
111-31), enacted in 2009, provided the Food and Drug Administration
(FDA) authority to regulate the tobacco industry and develop regulatory
pathways to bring scientifically substantiated less harmful alternatives
to the market for adult consumers who will otherwise continue smoking
cigarettes;
Whereas the FDA has adopted an unduly narrow interpretation of the ``Appropriate
for the Protection of Public Health'' standard set forth in such Act,
which contemplated FDA authorizing proven reduced-harm alternatives for
adult smokers and using FDA's substantial post-market regulatory
controls to protect against future population risks;
Whereas, in 2017, the FDA announced a comprehensive approach to tobacco control
based on cessation, prevention, and harm reduction, and recognized a
continuum of risk in nicotine-containing products with combustible
cigarettes on one end of the spectrum and noncombustible products such
as heated tobacco, vapor, and oral nicotine-containing products on other
end;
Whereas, as part of the scientific evaluation to assess whether a product is
appropriate for the protection or promotion of public health, the FDA
assesses various criteria, including the potential health effects,
nicotine levels, flavor variants, and potential appeal to and likelihood
of use by youth and nonsmokers, and imposes postmarket surveillance
requirements;
Whereas the United States approach to tobacco control requires the FDA to
evaluate all available data and make decisions based on science with
interested parties allowed to engage the agency in an open and
transparent manner;
Whereas, since 2009, more than 26,000,000 tobacco product applications have been
submitted to the FDA, yet fewer than 50 applications have been
authorized;
Whereas there is now a rapidly growing market in flagrantly illegal e-vapor
products that lack FDA oversight and are contributing significantly to
underage e-vapor use;
Whereas staffing at the FDA's Center for Tobacco Products has more than doubled
in the last 10 years and user fees collected by the Center have
increased to over $700,000,000 annually;
Whereas a report published in December 2022 by the independent Reagan Udall
Foundation found the FDA is struggling as a regulator and should develop
``a more clear and predictable framework'' for tobacco product
applications;
Whereas other governments have embraced similar approaches to harm reduction,
including Great Britain which provides adult smokers with information
about and access to alternative products as part of its strategy to
become a smoke-free nation by 2030;
Whereas the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, negotiated and implemented
under the auspices of the World Health Organization, includes harm
reduction as one of the main pillars of tobacco control; and
Whereas the World Health Organization and public health advocates around the
world have yet to adopt harm reduction or embrace innovation and
technological advancements as a means of accelerating the decline of
cigarette smoking and reducing noncommunicable diseases associated with
smoking: Now, therefore, be it
Resolved, That it is the sense of the House of Representatives
that--
(1) the Food and Drug Administration should implement a
coherent regulatory process that fully embraces the promising
science that smoke causes most tobacco-related death and
disease, encourages American innovation in smoke-free
alternatives proven to reduce harm, promotes a comprehensive
approach to tobacco control that ensures science-based decision
making, and prioritizes the authorization of less harmful
smoke-free products as alternatives for adults who continue
smoking;
(2) public health authorities, including the Centers for
Disease Control and Prevention, should educate adult consumers
and health care professionals regarding harm reduction and
begin educational campaigns to improve adult consumers'
understanding of nicotine and alternative products available;
and
(3) the Secretary of State and the Secretary of Health and
Human Services should engage the World Health Organization to
promote a comprehensive approach to tobacco control, and
recognition of harm reduction as a key pillar of the Framework
Convention on Tobacco Control for combating noncommunicable
disease associated with cigarette smoking around the world.
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