Obama signs tobacco regulation

by Christi Parsons

Invoking his own personal experience as a teenaged smoker, President Barack Obama today predicted that a tough new law cracking down on cigarette marketers will help young people make the choice not to take up the habit with which he has struggled for years.

As he signed the measure into law in a Rose Garden ceremony this afternoon, Obama said it would help stem the "constant and insidious barrage of advertising" that draws millions of teenagers every year into a lifelong struggle to quit.

"I know," Obama said. "I was one of those teenagers. I know how difficult it is."

The new law gives sweeping authority to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to regulate tobacco products, and bans tobacco companies from using youth-oriented gimmicks such as candy, fruit and spice-flavored cigarettes and sponsoring athletic and entertainment events with tobacco product brand names and logos.

Flanked by lawmakers who have fought tobacco companies for years, Obama declared that his signature on the bill represented a significant defeat for tobacco companies that tried to hook young customers.

"Their campaign has finally failed," Obama said. "Today, change has come."

For Obama personally, change is more elusive. He gave up cigarettes as part of a deal with his wife, Michelle Obama, who wanted him to quit before he took on the rigors of a presidential campaign. He swore off cigarettes and started chewing Nicorette gum.

In recent weeks, though, aides to the president have tacitly acknowledged that the president's nicotine habit isn't a thing of the past.

White House press secretary Robert Gibbs recently took a pass on declaring Obama a non-smoker.

"I think the president would likely tell you, as I think . . . anybody would that has smoked or been addicted to smoking, that it is a lifelong struggle," said Gibbs.

The new law creates a Center for Tobacco Products to oversee the science-based regulation of tobacco products in the United States. By October 2009, it will completely prohibit cigarettes that have candy, fruit, and spice flavors as their main flavors.

The bill also requires that tobacco companies:

• Fully disclose ingredients and additives. They will also have to send information to the FDA about the nicotine content of their products and the health consequences of using them.

• Stop targeting youth with their marketing campaigns. They won't be able to sell or give away clothing and other items with their logos, or distribute free samples of cigarettes.

• Quit using terms such as "light," "low" and "mild" to market their products.

• Include warning labels that dominate the front and rear panels of their packaging. The FDA will develop regulations requiring particular graphics on labels to warn of the health risks of smoking.