New Legislation Puts a Check on Big Tobacco
The Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act Passes
Jun 21, 2009
The Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act, which was recently passed by the House and Senate, authorizes the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to regulate tobacco and will help protect children and teens from the dangers of smoking.
The Congressional Budget Office estimates that this law could have a significant effect over the next decade, reducing youth smoking by 11 percent and adult smoking by 2 percent by 2019.
“This is a huge victory for the health of all Americans – and a major step forward in our fight against cancer,” wrote Dr. John R. Seffrin, Chief Executive Officer of the American Cancer Society, in a June 19 release.
What to Expect Under the New Legislation
- Tobacco companies must seek FDA approval for new products and provide full disclosure of all product ingredients
- Flavored tobacco products such as candy- and fruit-flavored cigarettes will be banned
- Terms such as "light," "mild," or "low-tar," which have been known to mislead consumers into thinking they were making healthier choices, have been banned
- Warning labels will be more visible on cigarette packaging
- Public cigarette vending machines will not be allowed in places where IDs have not been checked
- Tobacco advertisements will not be allowed near schools and playgrounds
Many of these issues addressed by the new law have been the subject of debates for years. Smokers have accused big names like Philip Morris of falsely marketing terms such as “light” and “low-tar” as less harmful than regular cigarettes.
The legislation will regulate the tobacco companies’ advertising, which has been accused of being aimed at children in the past. According to the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, “Numerous internal tobacco industry documents, revealed in the various tobacco lawsuits, show that the tobacco companies have perceived kids as young as 13 years of age as a key market, studied the smoking habits of kids, and developed products and marketing campaigns aimed at them.”
Hoping to Save Lives
According to the American Cancer Society’s facts about kids and tobacco, almost all of first-time use of tobacco products takes place before high school graduation and “almost 90 percent of adult smokers started at or before the age 19.”
Similar legislation had attempted to pass about 10 years ago, but things have changed over the last decade with the growing concern of the effects of secondhand smoke on children as well as the many recent state laws that ban smoking indoors.
By restricting tobacco companies’ access to children and teens, the American Cancer Society hopes that many more lives will be saved in the future.
