WASHINGTON – The Food and Drug Administration now has authority to regulate tobacco products, under a new law signed this afternoon by President Barack Obama during a Rose Garden ceremony.
With children on stage and sprinkled among audience members, and with the new playground for the presidential daughters in the distance, Obama said the new law will curtail the “constant, insidious” advertising that tobacco companies target to kids, reports Barb Barrett.
He pointed out that nearly 90 percent of smokers start before the age of 18.
“I know; I was one of those teenagers,” Obama said. “I know how hard it is to break the habit once you’ve started.”
Among those at the White House this afternoon was U.S. Rep. G.K. Butterfield, a Democrat from Wilson, where auctioneers used to rattle off leaf prices after harvest each fall. He represents one of the heaviest tobacco farming districts in the nation.
“This has been a very difficult issue for me,” Butterfield said later. “But when I take a step back and look at it objectively, there’s no question we need to reduce smoking….We need to be realistic about the issue.”
Read more after the jump.
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The legislation is decades in the making. It passed both houses on strong bipartisan support, but over the objection of tobacco state Sens. Richard Burr, a Republican, and Kay Hagan, a Democrat, of North Carolina. Burr held up other Senate floor business for nearly two weeks through parliamentary maneuvers to stretch out debate.
Under the law, companies could no longer sell products with sweet, fruity or spicy characterizing flavors. Half of cigarette packages would have to be covered in warning labels. There could be no products labeled “light” or “low-tar.” Advertising would be banned near playgrounds and schools. Companies could no longer give away free samples of cigarettes.
The FDA would have the authority to regulate the chemical makeup of products. It could sharply reduce – though not eliminate – nicotine, the addictive chemical in cigarettes.
Obama has struggled with his own addition to cigarettes, but he ignored a question from the press gallery after the ceremony as he was shaking visitors’ hands.
“Mr. President, how difficult has your struggle been with smoking?” asked CNN’s Dan Lothian.
Obama glanced up, then turned away.
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