Fourteen years after it was first proposed, the Food and Drug Administration has finally issued fairly sweeping regulations to prevent tobacco marketing/selling to youths.
As of June 22, the tobacco industry is banned from selling or distributing tobacco-branded apparel, using music or sound effects in audio tobacco ads, dishing out free samples of cigs and are limited to only using black-and-white for video ads and ads in teen-oriented print publications. With the last provision, however, the industry sued and a district court in Kentucky blocked implementation of it.
Surprisingly, Big Tobacco companies like Philip Morris and RJ Reynolds are in support and/or are already largely in compliance with the new FDA rules while those like Commonwealth Brands–the maker of Davidoff cigarettes among others–are none too pleased with the clampdown.
You can view the press conference about the FDA’s new rules featuring Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius after the jump.