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title: Florida House Declares Pornography a Public Health Risk
description: Florida legislators declared pornography a public health risk the same day that they declined to hold hearings on a gun violence measure
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og:title: Florida House Declares Pornography a Public Health Risk
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# Florida's House of Representatives Just Declared Pornography a Health Risk

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by 

[Eli Meixler](https://time.com/author/eli/)


## Eli Meixler


Feb 21, 2018 6:50 AM UTC

by 

[Eli Meixler](https://time.com/author/eli/)


## Eli Meixler


Feb 21, 2018 6:50 AM UTC

Florida’s House of Representatives passed a resolution Tuesday declaring pornography a public health risk.

The resolution called for education, research, and policy changes to protect Florida citizens — especially teenagers — from pornography, [according](https://www.usnews.com/news/best-states/florida/articles/2018-02-20/florida-house-declares-pornography-as-a-health-risk) to the Associated Press.

The bill’s sponsor, Republican Rep. Ross Spano, said that research has “found a correlation between pornography use and mental and physical illnesses, difficulty forming and maintaining intimate relationships, unhealthy brain development and cognitive function, and deviant, problematic or dangerous sexual behavior,” [at a hearing last month](http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/politics/political-pulse/os-florida-porn-health-risk-20180118-story.html) before the House’s Health & Human Services Committee.

The vote followed an earlier session in which Florida legislators [declined to hold hearings](http://time.com/5167687/florida-shooting-lawmakers-assault-weapon-ban/) on a bill banning high-capacity magazines and assault rifles such as the one used last week by suspected gunman Nikolas Cruz to [kill 17 students](http://time.com/5160564/florida-high-school-shooting-victims-name/) and teachers at the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida.

Rep. Carlos Guillermo Smith, a Democrat, questioned why the House chose not to prioritize the [measure tackling gun violence.](https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/20/us/gun-control-florida-shooting.html) “Has anyone ever been killed as a result of the health implications of pornography?” he asked Spano, according to the New York _Times_.

“He was saying porn as a health risk was more important to address here in the Florida Legislature than the epidemic of gun violence,” Smith [told](https://twitter.com/CarlosGSmith/status/966041204382228480) the AP. “I’m not aware there’s a base of voters who are losing sleep every night over the epidemic of pornography as a public health crisis.”

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