Another blow to the Militant Smokers Group

Dino

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Obama signs law giving FDA authority to regulate tobacco

Expressing a hope that America's teens will not be hooked as he was, President Obama just signed into law a bill granting the Food and Drug Administration sweeping new authority to regulate tobacco.

The president, shown here at the signing ceremony with lawmakers and teens representing the generation they're all trying to save, said he's trying to reduce the estimated 1,000 teenagers a day who become smokers.

"I was one of these teenagers. And so I know how difficult it can be to break this habit when it's been with you for a long time," said Obama, who has been public about his own struggles to quit smoking.

The bill represents "the strongest action the federal government has ever taken to reduce tobacco use," said Matthew Myers, president of the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids.

Obama said the focus is on stopping sales pitches to children.

"The kids today don't just start smoking for no reason. They're aggressively targeted as customers by the tobacco industry. They're exposed 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 presient said.

The law Obama signed aims to end that. By this fall, it will take flavored cigarettes off the market. By January, it will require tobacco manufacturers and importers to give the FDA about ingredients in their products to their products; by next April, tobacco companies will be banned from putting their logos on sporting, athletic or entertainment events or on clothing and other promotional items. By next July, the terms "light," "low" or "mild" may no longer be used to market tobacco products. By 2011, all tobacco products must carry larger and stronger warning labels.

As USA TODAY's Wendy Koch outlined in a story earlier this month, Obama's signature culminates a better-than decade-long effort by members of Congress to give the FDA regulatory power over tobacco,a product that played such an important part in the early U.S. economy that some of the pillars on the first floor of the U.S. Capitol are topped with marble facsimiles of the Golden Leaf.

The Campign for Tobacco-Free Kids says more than 1,000 organizations, including public health and faith groups, joined to support the bill, which passed overwhelmingly in both the House and Senate.

A bipartisan delegation of House and Senate members who helped shepherd the bill through Congress was on hand for the White House signing ceremony. Absent was the bill's chief author, Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass. Kennedy, who remains in Massachusetts undergoing cancer treatment, issued a statement hailing passage of the "long overdue" bill and suggesting it's a promising sign for the president's efforts to overhaul the health care system.

Decade after decade, Big Tobacco has seduced millions of teenagers into lifetimes of addiction and premature death. Enactment of this legislation will finally put a stop to that. It is truly a life-saving act, and a welcome demonstration that this Congress is capable of enacting major health reform.
 
this is gonna backfire...... smokers are good for the country...

they die younger , pay lots more taxes than the rest of us...

So where is Obooboo going to get the revenue back from? US....
 
yeah so we are going to give control to an admin. that does not fully test anything and allows drugs on the market without knowing the full affects or side effects and so on and so on. He should have first changed the person in charge of the food and drug admin. Mind you I don't smoke (I do dip though). Hello pot this is the kettle. (No pun intended):whistle:
 
The sad thing here is that nobody stops to ask the question of "what's next".

By this, i mean...okay, so they decide they're gonna tax the bejeezus out of the smokers, because smoking is bad for you, blah blaH BLAH...we tax the health care system (which is also bull****, I have health insurance and pay extra for it because of the fact that i DO smoke) blah blah blah blah... It bothers others, blah blah blah...

Fine, here's the answer to whats next: a ridiculously high tax on fast food and candy. Why not? its bad for you, it taxes the health care system because fatties have more health issues than non-fatties. More prone to diabetes, etc etc...

Once they try that, everyone is gonna scream bloody murder, of course...but the govt can say "well you backed it when it was the smokers, and in doing so, set a precident. Suck it up and pay that tax, fatty!
 
The sad thing here is that nobody stops to ask the question of "what's next".

By this, i mean...okay, so they decide they're gonna tax the bejeezus out of the smokers, because smoking is bad for you, blah blaH BLAH...we tax the health care system (which is also bull****, I have health insurance and pay extra for it because of the fact that i DO smoke) blah blah blah blah... It bothers others, blah blah blah...

Fine, here's the answer to whats next: a ridiculously high tax on fast food and candy. Why not? its bad for you, it taxes the health care system because fatties have more health issues than non-fatties. More prone to diabetes, etc etc...

Once they try that, everyone is gonna scream bloody murder, of course...but the govt can say "well you backed it when it was the smokers, and in doing so, set a precident. Suck it up and pay that tax, fatty!

:rofl::whistle:
 
Fast food, alcohol, candy, soft drinks, etc. all are bad for you, so lets tax them the same way they want to tax smokes. After all, fair is fair, right?
 
I've never seen or heard of a kid starting smoking because of a poster or tv ad. Here's how kids start smoking. Said kid starts hanging with a group. The group becomes the kid's regular people he hangs out with. Wanting to "fit in" he/she starts smoking or accepts a cig after they have an unexpected stressful day. After a few days it becomes something to do with your friends and after a short time your hooked. Doesn't take long.

That's how my little sister started smoking. She went through a divorce and instead of calling family, she let it all build up and started smoking to calm herself. Now she smokes and it pisses me off something fierce.
 
Fast food, alcohol, candy, soft drinks, etc. all are bad for you, so lets tax them the same way they want to tax smokes. After all, fair is fair, right?

Remember when we had the right to F ourselves up as we saw fit and it wasn't a disease or additction nobody got sued for making someone fat and people had to live or die with their own decisions. Course I also remember when it was safe to drink out of the hose. The only reason obesity has been defined as a disease is for the FDA to be able to approve medication from who ? the drug companies to make products to fight that "disease". If it's not defined as a disease then they can't produce a medication for doctors to sell so they can bill a ridiculous amount of money to insurance (gee wonder why rates are so high). Just like smoking has been defined as a disease and or addiction, etc. The simple fact of the matter is we as a people are weak as a group individually most people are very intelligent and know better however the non issues get in the way so we are left hurting ourselves while the govt. Basically takes over. For example every person can agree that smoking is bad for you. Great we all know it even smokers know it, however even if everyone can agree on that they allow personal opinion to over-ride their reasoning creating a situation where the govt. will step in make the decision for us and then bill us for it too. Hmmm great business model don't you think. We effectively give them the ability and power to do what they want without any real input from us. Is this really the countries biggest concern I think not. Lets focus on getting work and businesses back in the U.S. first and taxing imported stuff the way we should to increase our own economy and make it attractive and almost necc. for all these out of country suppliers to operate here in the U.S. effectively providing employment. But no we need to focus on people who should know better and people who don't seem to think parenting includes educating your kids anymore hell lets let the govt. take care of that too send us a bill for it because we forgot how to all of a sudden(current company excluded). Basically what is being said is we are not educating our kids or we no longer have the ability to educate our kids. I own a few guns the day I brought them home my kids got to touch them feel them learn every operation of each one and I brought them to a range to fire them and taught them how to use them and most importantly safety and handling. Not because I want them to tote guns and feel cool but because I want them to respect them for the tool they are. Effectively they do not touch them go near them or attempt to handle them now because they were taught. ( Also because I'm paranoid about them I keep everything locked up in safes and ammo in a seperate safe JIC) anyhow I'm gonna get off my :soapbox: now just fires me up a little when the govt. takes retarded direction and makes decisions like this. so sorry all if I went a little off topic I'm done now. :beerchug:
 
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we all do things that are bad for our body. some of them are illegal, some taxed heavily, others our gov't doesn't consider a big deal. power always gravitates toward more power. it wasn't that long ago alcohol was illegal.

the fda is already overworked and not ran efficiently. so i can't imagine allowing them to comb thru packs of smokes being very helpful to anyone.

'nonsmokers die, everyday' bill hicks
 
we all do things that are bad for our body. some of them are illegal, some taxed heavily, others our gov't doesn't consider a big deal. power always gravitates toward more power. it wasn't that long ago alcohol was illegal.

the fda is already overworked and not ran efficiently. so i can't imagine allowing them to comb thru packs of smokes being very helpful to anyone.

'nonsmokers die, everyday' bill hicks

Exactly
 
The sad thing here is that nobody stops to ask the question of "what's next".

By this, i mean...okay, so they decide they're gonna tax the bejeezus out of the smokers, because smoking is bad for you, blah blaH BLAH...we tax the health care system (which is also bull****, I have health insurance and pay extra for it because of the fact that i DO smoke) blah blah blah blah... It bothers others, blah blah blah...

Fine, here's the answer to whats next: a ridiculously high tax on fast food and candy. Why not? its bad for you, it taxes the health care system because fatties have more health issues than non-fatties. More prone to diabetes, etc etc...

Once they try that, everyone is gonna scream bloody murder, of course...but the govt can say "well you backed it when it was the smokers, and in doing so, set a precident. Suck it up and pay that tax, fatty!

The Auto Industry; No, Banking; No. I got it, health care :whistle:
 
You got it Do3! the point i was making though (and trust me, i definitely see what everyone is saying about what i said) is that when they go after fast food/candy/soft drinks/unhealthy foods, there are gonna be just as many pi$$ed people as we smokers are. My response will be "well you didnt stick up for me, so dont think im gonna stick up for you."

Wont bother me, i dont eat fast food, never had much of a sweet tooth, and probably drink a soda about 3x a month.
 
Normally I'm not on-board with this admins decisions, but I have to say I'm with them on this one. It's not like they are banning tobacco, just trying to prevent it from looking so great to kids. No big deal in my opinion. If they try banning tobacco then I would agree with some of the comments above.
 
I've never seen or heard of a kid starting smoking because of a poster or tv ad. Here's how kids start smoking. Said kid starts hanging with a group. The group becomes the kid's regular people he hangs out with. Wanting to "fit in" he/she starts smoking or accepts a cig after they have an unexpected stressful day. After a few days it becomes something to do with your friends and after a short time your hooked. Doesn't take long.

That's how my little sister started smoking. She went through a divorce and instead of calling family, she let it all build up and started smoking to calm herself. Now she smokes and it pisses me off something fierce.
I started cause my parents had them in the house...


Sure glad I did not vote for any of this administration... lessee.... blow 10 trillion and tax everyone into submission... Yeehaw!! I am half way to my underground income goal... :laugh:
 
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