FDA Regulations Restrict Tobacco Sales, Marketing to Kids

The FDA has issued broad new regulations restricting the sale and marketing of tobacco products to children and adolescents.

HHS secretary Kathleen Sebelius said during a March 18 news conference that the rules -- which were published March 19 in the Federal Register and take effect June 22 -- will make it more difficult for manufacturers to advertise tobacco products and more difficult for children and adolescents to buy them.

The rules prohibit

The new regulations also limit distribution of smokeless tobacco products and require that audio advertisements use only words with no music or sound effects.

"We are very pleased with these new FDA rules regarding tobacco marketing to youth," said Pamela Rodriguez, AAFP tobacco control manager. "They are consistent with the AAFP tobacco use policy and position paper."

Howard Koh, assistant secretary for health at the Department of Health and Human Services, said 90 percent of smokers start before age 18. An estimated 4,000 children under age 18 try their first cigarette every day, and one-fourth of those become daily smokers.

According to the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, 20 percent of U.S. high-school students are smokers, and the tobacco industry spends nearly $13 billion a year on marketing.

According to Sebelius, it is no coincidence that the three brands that spend the most on advertising -- Marlboro, Newport and Camel -- are preferred at higher rates by children and adolescents than by adults. "Despite a ban on direct marketing to young Americans, tobacco companies have still found ways to reach out to them," she said.

Sebelius said 450,000 Americans die prematurely each year because of smoking or second-hand smoke, and smoking is the leading cause of premature death in the country. She said tobacco use adds about $100 billion a year in costs to the U.S. health care system.