Contact: Katie Glenn, kglenn@acc.org, 202-375-6472

WASHINGTON (Oct 26, 2015) -

A statement from American College of Cardiology President Kim Allan Williams Sr., M.D., FACC, regarding a research letter published today in JAMA on flavored electronic cigarette use by adolescents:

"This study supports what common sense tells us: that adding flavors to tobacco and nicotine products makes them appealing to young people and most likely increase the chances they will use tobacco products," said American College of Cardiology President Kim Allan Williams Sr., M.D., FACC. "The United States has made excellent progress reducing smoking and reducing related preventable diseases, such as heart disease. Allowing companies to market these products to children, including with flavors that appeal to young people, is a harmful development. This trend threatens to undo the work to reduce deaths in heart disease from the decline in cigarettes smoking in the last 50 years."

The American College of Cardiology is a 49,000-member medical society that is the professional home for the entire cardiovascular care team. The mission of the College is to transform cardiovascular care and to improve heart health. The ACC leads in the formation of health policy, standards and guidelines. The College operates national registries to measure and improve care, provides professional medical education, disseminates cardiovascular research and bestows credentials upon cardiovascular specialists who meet stringent qualifications. For more information, visit ###