Protecting American Lungs and Reversing the Youth Tobacco Epidemic Act of 2020

Protecting American Lungs and Reversing the Youth Tobacco Epidemic Act of 2020

This bill revises requirements related to the safety, sale, and advertisement of tobacco products, including electronic nicotine delivery systems (e.g., e-cigarettes, e-hookah, e-cigars, and vape pens).

Among other requirements, the bill

• requires the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to implement regulations to require color graphics on the labeling of cigarette packages, depicting the negative health consequences of smoking;
• requires the FDA to apply regulations on tobacco products to all tobacco products, including e-cigarettes;
• generally prohibits the retail online sale of tobacco products, including electronic nicotine delivery systems;
• prohibits flavors other than tobacco in a tobacco product;
• prohibits the use of flavored products in an electronic nicotine delivery system, except in specified circumstances;
• increases the user fees that the FDA collects from manufacturers and importers;
• directs the FDA to regulate products containing nicotine not made or derived from tobacco plants (including nicotine from chemical synthesis, recombinant genetic technology, or extraction from non-tobacco plants);
• imposes an excise tax on nicotine that has been extracted, concentrated, or synthesized;
• provides funding through FY2025 to support public education regarding tobacco regulation, public awareness regarding the harms associated with tobacco use, outreach to medically underserved communities regarding tobacco-use prevention and cessation, research grants related to tobacco-use prevention and cessation, and grants to health centers for tobacco-use cessation treatment;
• establishes and provides funding through FY2025 for a demonstration grant program to develop strategies for smoking cessation (including of the use of menthol-flavored tobacco products) in medically underserved communities;
• beginning in 2024, waives coinsurance under Medicare for colorectal-cancer screening tests;
• specifies that a health insurance plan may still be treated, for certain tax-deduction purposes, as a high-deductible plan even if it does not have a deductible for certain inhalers or nebulizers; 
• exempts certain cigars from premarket review requirements;
• increases civil penalties for certain violations of restrictions on the sale of tobacco products; and
• requires the Government Accountability Office to study e-cigarettes.