SPRINGFIELD – State Senator Julie Morrison (D-Lake Forest) released the following statement Thursday after an announcement from the Federal Food and Drug Administration that it will ban all menthol cigarettes and flavored cigars:

“In every form, tobacco products are dangerous to human health and can lead to serious, life-long health consequences. Banning menthol cigarettes and flavored cigars is a crucial step toward curbing young people’s interest in smoking.

“I applaud the Federal Food and Drug Administration for its decision to ban these products, but we can’t stop there. We must work to ban flavored vaping products that lure children into deadly addiction. The creation of sugary flavors has threatened the progress we have made over the last several decades to reduce tobacco usage amount young people.”

Senator Morrison has been an advocate for putting an end to tobacco use in teens since entering the General Assembly. In 2019, she successfully passed a law that increases the age to legally purchase tobacco to 21, and is currently leading the “Preventing Youth Vaping Act” through the General Assembly.