I am a pediatric pulmonologist and a board member of the Maine Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP). I work with the Maine AAP to educate patients and families on the significant dangers of tobacco products.

Despite the FDA’s ban on flavored cigarettes in 2009, the overall market for flavored tobacco products is growing. Tobacco companies have ramped up the marketing of flavored “other tobacco products,” particularly e-cigarettes and cigars, as well as smokeless tobacco and hookah. With their colorful packaging and sweet flavors, today’s flavored tobacco products are often hard to distinguish from the candy displays near which they are frequently placed in retail outlets.

Flavored tobacco products play a key role in enticing new users, particularly children, to a lifetime of addiction. This growing market for flavored tobacco products is undermining the nation’s overall progress in reducing youth tobacco use. I care for children from across the state with serious health conditions and have witnessed so many impacted by the harmful effects of tobacco and nicotine. With one in four Maine high school students now using e-cigarettes – a rate that has nearly doubled in the past four years – something must be done. I would like to point out this isn’t just a statistic. These are our children.

I urge our legislators to support L.D. 1215, An Act to End the Sale of Flavored Tobacco in Maine, setting an example to prioritize the health of our communities.

Anne Coates, MD
Cape Elizabeth

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