U.S. President Barack Obama signs the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act, which gives the Food and Drug Administration unprecedented authority to regulate tobacco, in the Rose Garden of the White House in Washington D.C., capital of the United States, June 22, 2009. (Xinhua/Zhang Yan)
U.S. President Barack Obama signed a bill into law on Monday that authorizes the government unprecedented powers to control tobacco makers.
"The legislation I'm signing today represents change that's been decades in the making," Obama said at a signing ceremony at the White House.
The law gave unprecedented power to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to control tobacco use among youngsters, regulate nicotine levels, bar added flavorings and require tough new warning labels.
The FDA will be also granted the power to create a new Center for Tobacco Products to oversee the science-based regulation of tobacco products in the United States.
According to the law, tobacco companies must disclose to their products' ingredients, and allow the FDA to require changes to protect public health.
U.S. President Barack Obama shakes hands with 14-year-old Hoai-Nam Ngoc Bui, member of the Campaign for Tobacco Free Kids, after signing the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act in the Rose Garden of the White House in Washington D.C., capital of the United States, June 22, 2009. (Xinhua/Zhang Yan)
It also imposes strict limits on tobacco advertising in publications that have a significant number of teenagers as readers, and bans the use of words like "mild" or "light" in ads that makes tobacco products seem safer.
"Despite decades of lobbying and advertising by the tobacco industry, we passed a law to help protect the next generation of Americans from growing up with a deadly habit that so many of our generation have lived with," said the president.
U.S. President Barack Obama speaks prior to signing the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act in the Rose Garden of the White House in Washington D.C., capital of the United States, June 22, 2009. (Xinhua/Zhang Yan)
The bill, which is backed by many public health groups, is, however, strongly opposed by the tobacco industry.
Official statistics show that nearly 20 percent of Americans smoke, and about 440,000 people die a year in the United States due to cancer, heart disease, emphysema and other tobacco-related ailments.
Source: Xinhua
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