HomeMy WebLinkAbout010 19A UNANIMOUS RESOLUTION OF THE
JEFFERSON COUNTY BOARD OF HEALTH
In Support for Raising the Legal Sales -Age for Tobacco and Vapor
Products from 18 to 21
Resolution No. 10-19
By this Resolution, unanimously adopted, the Jefferson County Board of Health calls
upon the Washington State Legislature, and the senators and representatives who represent
the people of Jefferson County to pass legislation raising the legal sales age for tobacco and
vapor products from 18 to 21. The Board of Health makes and adopts this resolution based on
the following facts and for the following reasons:
1. The Jefferson County Board of Health wants to protect young people of our county and
state from the ravages of tobacco and nicotine addiction.
2. Tobacco use remains the leading cause of preventable death in the United States.
3. Killing more than 8,300 Washingtonians each year—more than alcohol, AIDS, car
crashes, illegal drugs, murders, and suicides combined—and causing cancer, heart
disease, and respiratory diseases, among other health disorders, that and an estimated
$2.81 billion in annual healthcare costs in Washington alone.
4. In 2016, the number of Washington 10th graders using either cigarettes, smokeless
tobacco or electronic cigarettes was 20 out of 100. Use of any tobacco product—
including e-cigarettes—by youth is unsafe, and nearly all tobacco product use begins in
adolescence.
5. According to the Monitoring the Future (MTF) survey, between January 2017 and
January 2018, the percentage of US 12th graders who reported vaping nicotine (not
flavoring or other substances) during the past 30 days nearly doubled, to over 20 out of
100; among 10th graders to 16 out of 100. Making this the biggest one-year increases
ever seen for any substance in the history of the MTF survey.
6. The Institute of Medicine (IOM) concluded that raising the legal sales age for tobacco
products to 21 would reduce tobacco initiation among youth, especially those aged 15-
17, improve health across the lifespan and save lives; and
7. The IOM projected that if the legal sales age for tobacco products were raised to 21
nationwide, there would be approximately 223,000 fewer premature deaths, 50,000
fewer deaths from lung cancer, and 4.2 million fewer years of life lost for persons born I
the US between 200 and 2019, and result in near -immediate reductions in preterm
births, low birth weight babies, and sudden infant death syndrome; and
8. Raising the legal age for tobacco and vapor products from 18 to 21 has been introduced
in the Washington State Legislature but has not yet been enacted.
9. The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends raising the minimum age to purchase
tobacco and vapor products to 21 years, particularly based on the vulnerability of
adolescent brains to nicotine and nicotine addiction, and partially based on data
indication that middle and high school students often obtain their first tobacco products
from older children; and
10. Raising the legal sales age for tobacco from 18 to 21 will help lead to less smoking and
tobacco use among Washington teens aged 12-17, sparing these young people from the
ravages that develop over time from harmful and highly addictive tobacco products; and
Informed by the facts and reasons stated, and as evidenced by the signatures of each Director
below, the Jefferson County Board of Health HEREBY APPROVES, ADOPTS, AND PASSES this
Resolution, and, in so doing, calls upon the Washington State Legislature, and the senators and
representatives who represent the people of Jefferson County to pass legislation raising the
legal sales age for tobacco and vapor products from 18 to 21.
SIGNED, THIS 21St day of February, 2019, by:
Ariel Speser Chair
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Kees Kolff, Vice Chair
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Kate Dean. member
Greg Brotherton, member
Sheila Westerman, member