Pago Pago, AMERICAN SAMOA — Faipule Avagafono Vaimaga Maiava has proposed a bill to raise the legal age to purchase tobacco materials from 18 to 21, increasing the safeguards for youth and to deter young adults from smoking.

The measure was introduced in the House yesterday. According to the preamble of the proposed bill, the adverse health effects from tobacco use causes more than 480,000 preventable deaths each year in the United States from heart disease, cancer or other smoking related disease and costs almost $170 billion each year in direct healthcare expenditures.

“And from the 2016 American Samoa Statistical Year Book, heart disease and cancer continue to be the top two causes of preventable deaths each year for the last 10 years.

“According to the 2015 Youth Risk Behavior Survey (YRBS) which conducted both a middle school and high school survey, 20% of 1,802 survey respondents in grades 6 -8 had tried cigarette smoking. Nearly 13% of 1,831 survey respondents have used an electronic vapor product (e-cigarettes).

“In the YRBS American Samoa High School Survey, 31% of 2,091 survey respondents in grades 9-12 (ages 14 to 18 years and old) reported that they frequently smoked cigarettes on 20 or more days during the 30 days before the survey and nearly 16% used an electronic vapor products on at least 1 day during the 30 days before the survey.”

The bill states that on December 20, 2019, the Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act was amended to raise the minimum tobacco purchase age from 18 to 21 making it illegal for retailers to sell any tobacco products to anyone under the age 21.

“Currently, 32 states and 1 U.S Territory (Guam) have passed Tobacco 21 legislation.

“The popularity of Tobacco products such as e-cigarettes/ vape pens and variety of flavors available, has made smoking more appealing to youth.

“This makes it even more critical to ensure that laws are in place to protect our vulnerable population against the long- term health consequences of smoking.”

The bill further cites research showing that ages 18 - 21 are a crucial point where experimental smoking becomes regular smoking.

“Increasing the age to 21 also puts most purchasers outside the social circle of most High School students.

“Lastly, a 2015 Institute of medicine report projected, among other measures that adopting a tobacco 21 policy would result in a 25 percent reduction in youth smoking initiation, a 12 percent drop-in overall smoking rates and approximately 223,000 fewer premature deaths; and since its creation in 1994, the annual fee for vendors has remained at $25 per year.

“This fee must be raised to $300; and in an effort to help cigarette enforcement, we must be proactive in not only assessing fines against business who sell to minors, but we must also prosecute those individuals; and tobacco companies have no hesitation making their tobacco products attractive to minors and young adults with their advertisements and displays.

“They add flavors to their products to attract younger and younger individuals. And we must then be just as vigilant in our efforts to curtail their pervasive advertisements and displays for tobacco products.

“This would include a ban on tobacco product advertisement displays. It would mandate that tobacco products be kept out of sight at any venue or retail store.

“This includes a prohibition on selling "low" or "light" or "mild" tobacco products, as if they are a better or healthier alternative to regular tobacco products.

“And a ban on selling tobacco products 1 hour before and 1 hour after normal school hours for all retailers within 100 yards of a school.”

“It is critical for us to update our Tobacco Restriction Act in order to keep up with new tobacco products available to our young people. It is still our goal to protect the health and wellbeing of our youth and young adults from the dangers of tobacco consumption,” the proposed legislation states.