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TALLAHASSEE, Florida, February 21, 2018 (LifeSiteNews) — Lawmakers in the Florida House of Representatives declared pornography a public health risk on Tuesday.

The resolution, approved by legislators, “recognizes the public health risk created by pornography and acknowledges the need for education, prevention, research, and policy change to protect citizens of this state.”

Republican Rep. Ross Spano, one of the sponsors, had addressed Florida's House Health and Human Services Committee in January about the dangers of porn, saying there is a link between porn use, mental illness and dangerous sexual behavior.

“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,” said Spano, who announced last year he would run for state Attorney General.

The full resolution cites addiction, greater risk of low self-esteem and eating disorders among the dangers while noting that porn objectifies women and fuels sex trafficking.

The media criticized the move to recognize porn as a public health risk after last week’s devastating school shooting in Florida and the resulting Second Amendment debate. But the Florida House is not alone in recognizing pornography as a public health crisis.

Numerous studies have found porn to be destructive to marriages, families, mental health, brain function, and a healthy sex life, along with promoting sexual violence.

The state of Utah has officially declared pornography a public health crisis and a number of other states have acted to similarly declare porn harmful.

A Daily Wire report picked up on the Florida House’s approval of the resolution and listed examples of porn’s prevalence and its damaging effects, including studies linking porn with sex crimes and negative effects on the brain.

Author Matt Walsh wrote in November about the rate at which Americans consume porn.

“We dedicated well over four and a half billion hours to watching porn on one porn site in 2016,” he said. “Just on Porn Hub, humanity spent twice as much time viewing porn in a year as it has spent existing on planet Earth. The site had over 90 billion video views and 44,000 visitors every minute of every day. It all adds up to over 500,000 years’ worth of porn consumed in the span of 12 months. Since 2015, human beings have spent one million years watching porn.”

The National Center on Sexual Exploitation also works to combat the public health crisis created by porn. It provides resources, raises awareness, and engages in policy advocacy.