Tobacco Control Act: 4 Reasons It Will Make You Quit

on June 25, 2010 at 6:55 AM

cigarette law The Tobacco Control Act might be aimed at keeping those cancer sticks out of the hands of kids, but the legislation that kicks in this week will have some major adult effects too.

Signed into law this week last year, a variety of additional federal regulations kick in this week as part of the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act, giving the U.S. Food and Drug Administration the authority to regulate Big Tobacco.

If you're one of the 46 million Americans who hasn't kicked the smoking habit, maybe this will put you over the edge (here's hoping anyway).

1. No more cheap small packs. Anything packaged with 20 or fewer cigarettes has been deemed too kid-friendly, and they're being kicked off the shelves.

2. No more false advertising. You might feel better reading the words "ultra light," but it's all in your head, not in your lungs. Cigarette companies are officially banned from using words like "ultra light," "mild," and "low-tar."

3. No more freebies. Love your Marlboro man cowboy hat? Put it on eBay because they won't be making any more of those free gifts with purchase.

4. No more in-your-face advertising. Whether the marketing of tobacco at sporting events made you crave a cigarette or not, the temptation is gone. Those ads are officially illegal.

If you're still smoking, does any of this make you want to stop?

Image via SuperFantastic/Flickr

About the author Jeanne Sager

writes articles for The Stir by day, slays closet monsters and bounds through bedtime stories with her elementary schooler by night. Diet Pepsi courses through her veins. The Phineas and Ferb soundtrack reverberates through her brain.

Filed Under: bad habits, cancer

Comments (7)

mojoe12776

on Jun 25, 2010 at 9:17 AM

I grew up with two parents and an older brother who smoked and managed to never even try one, ever!! Could never stand the smell so I could never imagine inhaling one!! I think it is a vile, disgusting habit. I understand the older generation started when there was no information on the danger of it and quitting is very difficult. But anyone who starts to smoke in this day and age is crazy! My Dad had a six pound, yes I said a SIX POUND tumor removed from his lung fifteen years AFTER he quit smoking!! IFIFTEEN years later!! If you cant picture a six pound tumor, picture a Purdue Oven Stuffer Roaster! He also had a tumor on the base of his brain. Sadly we lost him to the complications of surgery. My father is sadly a story my son has heard of, never a person to actually hug and hold due to these disgusting things. My father is our poster child for no smoking. Fly with the Angels Dad.

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Nonmember comment from Mike

on Jun 25, 2010 at 10:16 AM

Everything except the marketing of "light" cigarettes was already banned under the multibillion-dollar settlement tobacco cos. reached with many states in the late 1990s. Philip Morris long ago stopped hawking Marlboro T-shirts.

Some of the advertising rules may violate the First Amendment. These rules are not as big a deal today as they would have been in 1996, when they were first proposed.

niamibunni

on Jun 26, 2010 at 7:45 PM

I stopped several years ago and haven't touched a cigarette since. They can just ban the stupid things for all I care.

krenke414

on Jun 26, 2010 at 8:42 PM

I hate cigarettes. When I was younger about 16, I barely knew anyone that smoked. My friends and I always agreed it was disgusting and pointless. I take a look around now, and I feel as if I don't know a single person who doesn't smoke. I left all my friends for my first year of college. Excited for summer, I was eager to see all my high school friends again. Instead of the excitement I expected to feel, I was surrounded by disgust. All of my friends are smoking cigarettes now. I don't understand what has happened. Disliking cigarettes as much as I do, I don't want to be around them. I don't hang out with my friends anymore simply because I don't want to be around it.

I find that a lot of smokers are absolutely selfish. They don't have the decency to stop and look around to see if they may be affecting anyone around them. It's a personal choice to smoke but it's also a personal choice to not smoke, and smokers don't realize that. They will light up any time around anyone and never have the courtesy to think whether they may be affecting anyone else. I don't want it near me, and blowing it away from my direction does not help. I've seen adults smoking around infants and children!!!!! I can't think of anything more dangerous to a child's development. Cigarettes are disgusting and unecessary, and I am waiting for the day when they are made compltely illegal.

Deathlilly

on Jun 27, 2010 at 12:57 AM

Its funny because if you ask any smoker they will tell you that its a discusting habit and to never start up but can't get themselves to quit.

I understand, I smoked since I was 13 (I'm turning 21 in July). I just quit a few months ago and it is seriously the hardest thing ever. And its not something you can just do and get it over with either. Cigarettes will haunt you for the rest of your life. You'll almost always crave one but can never let your gaurd down. It's said to be worse than heroine, and I believe it completely.