Barrow Announces That Cracking Down on Tobacco Marketing to Kids & New Tobacco Label Rules Take Effect this Week |
Washington, D.C. – Congressman John Barrow (GA-12) applauded tough new rules that took effect on Tuesday, cracking down on tobacco marketing and sales to children, requiring much larger health warning labels on smokeless tobacco products, and banning the use of deceptive “light” or “low-tar” labels on cigarettes.
The Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act was signed into law on June 22, 2009, and many key provisions of the law went into effect yesterday – one year after the date of enactment. Tobacco is now responsible for about 1 in 5 deaths annually, or more than 400,000 deaths a year, and tens of billions of dollars of extra health care costs. “Tobacco-related illnesses are currently the number-one cause of preventable death in America,” said Barrow. “We now have new tools to help prevent tobacco use by children and reduce tobacco-related illnesses across America. The new rules targeting tobacco marketing to kids are particularly important, because tobacco companies continue to spend more than $12 billion a year to market their products, often in shameful ways designed to appeal especially to children.” Every day, more than 3,500 young people try a cigarette for the first time, and another 1,000 will become new, daily smokers. One-third of these youths will eventually die prematurely as a result. Cracking Down on Tobacco Marketing and Sales to Kids Key provisions targeting tobacco marketing and sales to kids that took effect yesterday:
New Labeling Rules for Smokeless Tobacco and Banning Use of Deceptive “Light,” “Mild,” and “Low-Tar” Labels Key provision on labeling:
### Contact: Jane Brodsky, (202) 225-2823 Click here for a .pdf copy of this release
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