Tobacco-Free Kids Strongly Endorses California Attorney General Xavier Becerra for HHS Secretary

WASHINGTON, D.C. – The Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids strongly supports the nomination of California Attorney General Xavier Becerra as Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services and urges the U.S. Senate to quickly confirm him.

Attorney General Becerra is a highly qualified and experienced nominee who will be well prepared on day one to address the enormous health challenges facing our nation, including the COVID-19 pandemic and the stark health disparities it has exposed, as well as tobacco use, which heightens those disparities. Attorney General Becerra has an impressive record of taking on the tobacco industry in order to protect children and save lives. From filing suit against Juul for marketing its e-cigarettes to kids, to leading a national, bipartisan effort urging the video streaming industry to protect young viewers from tobacco imagery, to supporting California’s new law ending the sale of flavored tobacco products, Attorney General Becerra has consistently been a leader in the fight against tobacco use. As a member of the U.S. House of Representatives, he supported the landmark 2009 law giving the FDA authority to oversee tobacco products.

We look forward to working with Attorney General Becerra and the Biden Administration in taking bold action to reverse the youth e-cigarette epidemic and accelerate progress in reducing tobacco use, which remains the nation’s number one cause of preventable death and a major contributor to health disparities. It is especially critical that the Administration take action to end the sale of all flavored tobacco products, including menthol cigarettes, flavored e-cigarettes and flavored cigars, products that have been targeted at kids and communities of color.