Congress Passes Landmark Tobacco Regulation Bill

June 12, 2009: Today, the House of Representatives took the final step in permanently altering the face of public health in America as it passed the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act. This groundbreaking piece of legislation – passed by the U.S. House of Representatives on April 2nd – grants the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) oversight over the manufacture and sale of cigarettes and other tobacco products. It results from decades of long and dedicated work by opponents of Big Tobacco’s unrelenting grip on families across the nation.“Today marks an historic day as the tobacco industry and its products that kill 40,000 Californians every year will finally be subject to regulation,” said Trisha Murakawa, Chair of the Board of the American Lung Association in California. “The American Lung Association will continue its vigilance to protect children from the persuasive messages and tactics "Big Tobacco" will employ to recruit future generations of smokers.”The act attests to the hard-won success and effectiveness of a growing bipartisan push to control and regulate tobacco companies by placing restrictions on their ability to target advertising to children, make misleading health claims and manipulate their products to make them more addictive.