A little over one year ago on June 22, the President signed the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act into law. What many people don’t know is that tough new rules on tobacco marketing and sales to kids will went into effect on the week of June 28th.
I'm a big supporter of tobacco laws and although I do understand the flip side on how people feel it's an infringement of their rights, I think kids need to be protected.
Tobacco use kills more than 440,000 people each year and costs $96 billion in health care expenditures annually. Today, 3,900 kids will try a cigarette for the first time and 1,000 kids will become addicted, daily smokers.
Here are the new rules regarding cigarette sales include:
- No cigarette or smokeless tobacco sales to minors (less than age 18) under federal law for the first time
- No production or sales of cigarettes with misleading labels such as “light”, “mild” and “low tar”
- No packaging of smokeless tobacco without larger, stronger warning labels
- No vending machine sales or self-service displays of cigarettes or smokeless tobacco except in adult-only facilities.
- No sales of cigarettes in packages of fewer than 20 cigarettes
- No branded product tie-ins (e.g., T-shirts with brand names or images) with purchases of cigarettes or smokeless tobacco products.
- No branded sponsorships of athletic or cultural events by cigarette or smokeless manufacturers, distributors or retailers.
- No free samples of any tobacco products, except limited free samples of smokeless tobacco products allowed in temporary adult-only facilities in certain restricted situations.
