Obama signs tobacco bill into law amid personal struggle with smoking
Christi Parsons, Tribune Washington Bureau
Issue date: 7/1/09 Section: News
WASHINGTON-Citing his own experience as a teenage smoker, President Obama on Monday predicted a tough new law giving the government expanded authority to crack down on cigarette marketers will help young people make the choice not to take up the habit he has struggled with 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 every year draws millions of teenagers into a lifelong struggle to quit.
"I know," Obama said. "I was one of those 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 new law gives sweeping power to the Food and Drug Administration to regulate tobacco products. And it directly bans tobacco companies from using youth-oriented gimmicks like adding candy, fruit and spice flavors to cigarettes or using tobacco product logos and brand names in sponsoring athletic and entertainment events.
Nearly a quarter of high school students in the U.S. smoke cigarettes, according to the National Institutes of Health. And people who start smoking before the age of 21 have the hardest time quitting, the agency reports. About 30 percent of youth smokers will die early from a smoking-related disease.
Flanked by lawmakers who have fought tobacco companies for years, Obama declared his signature on the bill represented a significant defeat for those who tried to hook young customers.
"Kids today don't just start smoking for no reason," Obama said. "They're aggressively targeted as customers by the tobacco industry. They're exposed to a constant and insidious barrage of advertising where they live, where they learn and where they play." Fifteen years after tobacco CEOs denied before Congress that nicotine was addictive or that they marketed to children, Obama said, "Their campaign has finally failed." Standing behind the president for the signing was Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Calif., who first summoned those CEOs to testify.
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 every year draws millions of teenagers into a lifelong struggle to quit.
"I know," Obama said. "I was one of those 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 new law gives sweeping power to the Food and Drug Administration to regulate tobacco products. And it directly bans tobacco companies from using youth-oriented gimmicks like adding candy, fruit and spice flavors to cigarettes or using tobacco product logos and brand names in sponsoring athletic and entertainment events.
Nearly a quarter of high school students in the U.S. smoke cigarettes, according to the National Institutes of Health. And people who start smoking before the age of 21 have the hardest time quitting, the agency reports. About 30 percent of youth smokers will die early from a smoking-related disease.
Flanked by lawmakers who have fought tobacco companies for years, Obama declared his signature on the bill represented a significant defeat for those who tried to hook young customers.
"Kids today don't just start smoking for no reason," Obama said. "They're aggressively targeted as customers by the tobacco industry. They're exposed to a constant and insidious barrage of advertising where they live, where they learn and where they play." Fifteen years after tobacco CEOs denied before Congress that nicotine was addictive or that they marketed to children, Obama said, "Their campaign has finally failed." Standing behind the president for the signing was Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Calif., who first summoned those CEOs to testify.
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