I know tobacco companies market their deadly products to teens like me and my friends. Lately, they’ve targeted us with products like cigars and e-cigarettes.
Sweet flavors like glazed donut and Saturday morning cereal, and slick ads make these products seem cool. And teens are falling for it.
A new CDC study shows a quarter of high school kids in New Hampshire use e-cigarettes. And way more high school boys in New Hampshire smoke cigars than cigarettes – 15.6 percent vs. 10.2 percent.
The Food and Drug Administration is trying to protect kids from these products, thanks to new rules that would regulate e-cigarettes and cigars. But some members of Congress want to help tobacco companies weaken these rules and even exempt some cigars completely.
These changes would hurt New Hampshire’s kids. I urge Sens. Kelly Ayotte and Jeanne Shaheen to stand with New Hampshire’s kids and reject efforts to hinder the FDA’s oversight of e-cigarettes and cigars.
Hannah Martuscello
Dover