Obama Signs Landmark Tobacco Control Law

President Obama on Monday signed a landmark law that for the first time gives the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) wide-ranging power to regulate the content, advertising and sale of tobacco products in the United States.

“Each day, 1,000 young people under the age of 18 become new, regular, daily smokers. And almost 90 percent of all smokers began at or before their 18th birthday,” said President Obama, himself struggling to quit smoking, in his bill signing remarks. “I know -- I was one of these teenagers, and so I know how difficult it can be to break this habit when it's been with you for a long time.”

The Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act (H.R. 1256), which actually gained the support of tobacco industry giant Altria Group, parent company of Philip Morris, stops short of giving the government the power to ban tobacco or nicotine products, was hailed by anti-smoking groups as a positive step in preventing smoking among children.

“Forty-five years after the first U.S. Surgeon General's report linking cigarette smoking to lung cancer, the most deadly product sold in America will no longer be the least regulated product sold in America,” stated Matthew L. Myers, President of Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids in a press release.

Major provisions of the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act include:

• All new tobacco products must be approved for sale by the FDA.
  
• Tobacco companies and importers must disclose to the FDA all ingredients of their products.
  
• The FDA has the power to change the contents of tobacco products to protect the public health.
  
• The law bans the use of “flavors,” including candies and fruit in tobacco products.
  
• To help prevent sale to minors, the law requires face-to-face transactions between tobacco retailers and consumers.
  
• The law prohibits the use of “cartoon” characters and further limits advertising that could attract children to smoking.
  
• The use of terms like “light, “mild” or “low” in tobacco advertising are prohibited.
  
• The law creates user fees on tobacco products to pay for enforcement of the new regulations.
  
• The FDA is prohibited from banning tobacco products.

Costs to the FDA of enforcing the law will be funded entirely by new user fees to be paid by tobacco companies and importers.

According to estimates by the Congressional Budget Office, enforcement of the law will cut smoking among children by 11 percent and among adults by 2 percent over the next 10 years.

“Today, thanks to the work of Democrats and Republicans, health care and consumer advocates, the decades-long effort to protect our children from the harmful effects of tobacco has emerged victorious,” said the President. “Today, change has come to Washington.”

Also See:
List of Organs Damaged by Smoking Expanded
'Lite' Cigarettes are No Safer
US Teens Smoking Less (2002)

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