Obama cites struggle to quit as he signs anti-smoking bill

[larrymeyer]

http://www.usatoday.com/news/washing...hooModule_News

Obama cites struggle to quit as he signs anti-smoking bill

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Obama cited his own long struggle to quit the cigarettes he got hooked on as a teenager as he signed the nation's strongest-ever anti-smoking bill Monday and praised it for providing critically needed protections for kids.
"The decades-long effort to protect our children from the harmful effects of tobacco has emerged victorious," Obama said at a signing ceremony in the White House Rose Garden.


The bill marks the latest legislative victory for Obama's first five months. Among his other successes: a $787 billion economic stimulus bill, legislation to expand a state program providing children's health insurance and a bill making it easier for workers to sue for pay discrimination.

The president has frequently spoken, in the White House and on the campaign trail, of his own struggles to quit smoking. He brought it up during Monday's ceremony while criticizing the tobacco industry for marketing its products to young people.

"I know — I was one of these teenagers," Obama said. "So I know how difficult it can be to break this habit when it's been with you for a long time."

Before dozens of invited guests, including children from the Campaign for Tobacco Free Kids, the president signed legislation giving the Food and Drug Administration unprecedented authority to regulate tobacco.

Obama accused the tobacco industry of targeting young people, exposing them to a "constant and insidious barrage of advertising where they live, where they learn and where they play. Most insidiously, they are offered products with flavorings that mask the taste of tobacco and make it even more tempting."

The new law bans candy and fruit flavors in tobacco products, and it limits advertising that could attract young people.

The Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act also allows the FDA to lower the amount of addiction-causing nicotine in tobacco products and block misleading labels such "low tar" and "light." Tobacco companies also will be required to cover their cartons with large graphic warnings.

The law won't let the FDA ban nicotine or tobacco outright.

"It is a law that will save American lives," Obama said.

Anti-smoking advocates looked forward to the bill after years of attempts to control an industry so fundamental to the U.S. that carved tobacco leaves adorn some parts of the Capitol.

Opponents from tobacco-growing states such as top-producing North Carolina argued that the FDA had proved through a series of food safety failures that it was not up to the job of regulation. They also said that instead of unrealistically trying to get smokers to quit or to prevent others from starting, lawmakers should ensure that people have other options, like smokeless tobacco.

As president, George W. Bush opposed the legislation and threatened a veto after it passed the House last year. The Obama administration, by contrast, issued a statement declaring strong support for the measure.

[Vig]

Yay! More nanny-state bullshit!

[earl44]

Yet Obama is banking on the success of the cigarette industry to pay for his Children's Health Insurance Program!!!! What does it all mean???

[GoldWinger]

I don't smoke and I don't like being around somking but this is getting absurd. Nearly all the young people that I work with smoke and they don't do it because of Joe the Camel or because the cigarettes taste like candy. They do it to fit in. One guy actually started smoking so that he'd have a reason to go outside for breaks.

I can't see an eleven year old saying, "Hmmmmm . . . I want to start smoking because they have cherry flavored cigarette!"

[camper]

So I'm not going to buy cher-roots from 7/11 when I go camping?

That evil, sick bastard.

And seriously, HOW in the world are tobacco products aimed and marketed at kids? Unless 'kids' are reading Cosmo or Maxim, I seriously don't see ANY ads for smokes in video games or cartoons or comic books.

camper

[Morel42]

Ya it's pretty much Bullshit..

I understand the motives, but it's just different colored bullshit..

[Philbert]

Advertising to kids would be bad if it was happening. But banning flavored tobacco? Epic fail.

[pandemic]

I'm glad. Flame away.

Alcohol is nice because it's more of a social thing. You enjoy the taste, get a buzz, get drunk, whatever. Sure some are addicted and some are irresponsible people. Those irresponsible people who DUI, drink while pregnant, etc should be punished.

Smoking tobacco has no real purpose. Some like the taste, ok. Nobody smokes to get a buzz, I dont think. Plus, it's highly addictive.

[sleeper78]

"Unprecedented authority to regulate."
Sound like the new catch phrase for this administration.
Hey Mr. President, this it how you quit smoking. You just...quit!
The end, period.
Yes I know it's hard, I've done it myself and I'm smoke free for almost a year now. That's why we have this quality wired into our brains called determination. You of all people should know about that word, after all isn't that how you made it to the White House as a rookie senator?

[pandemic]

"Unprecedented authority to regulate."
Sound like the new catch phrase for this administration.
Hey Mr. President, this it how you quit smoking. You just...quit!
The end, period.
Yes I know it's hard, I've done it myself and I'm smoke free for almost a year now. That's why we have this quality wired into our brains called determination. You of all people should know about that word, after all isn't that how you made it to the White House as a rookie senator?

I know people who can not quit. The tobacco companies are really good at keeping their customers addicted. Not saying there's a conspiracy just saying that tobacco is really addictive.