Anti-Smoking bill targets teenagers

WASHINGTON — No more "light” cigarettes or candy-flavored smokes. Bigger, scarier warning labels. Fewer ads featuring sexy young smokers.

Historic anti-smoking legislation sped to final congressional passage Friday — after a bitter fight lasting nearly a half-century — and lawmakers and the White House quickly declared it would save the lives of thousands of smokers of all ages. Even more important, they said, the measure could keep countless young people from starting smoking in the first place.

Reps. Dan Boren, D-Muskogee, and Mary Fallin, R-Oklahoma City, voted for the bill Friday. Reps. Tom Cole, R-Moore, and Frank Lucas, R-Cheyenne, voted against it.

President Barack Obama, still struggling with his own nicotine habit, saluted passage of the bill, which he will soon sign.

Specifically, the measure for the first time will give the Food and Drug Administration authority to regulate what goes into tobacco products, demand changes or elimination of toxic substances and block the introduction of new tobacco products.

Health and consumer groups say that, combined with other anti-smoking efforts, it can reduce the 400,000 deaths and $100 billion in health care costs attributed every year to smoking in the U.S.

With an estimated 3,500 young people smoking their first cigarette each day, the ban on flavorings alone could have significant health benefits, said Dr. Adam Goldstein, director of the University of North Carolina Tobacco Prevention and Evaluation Program.

The Senate passed the FDA bill Thursday by a 79-17 vote and the House followed suit on Friday, with a 307-97 vote.


the associated press