Handing a hard-fought victory to tobacco cessation proponents, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration announced new rules in March 2010 that will restrict how tobacco companies can market and sell their products to America’s children. With critical support from the public, our nation can move one step closer to saving countless lives from this deadly disease.

The regulations, which were ascribed in The Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act, passed with overwhelming support in the U.S. House of Representatives by a vote of 307 to 97, and was signed into law by President Barack Obama on June 22, 2009. Beginning in the summer of 2010, the tobacco industry will be prohibited from sponsoring sporting and entertainment events, distributing free cigarette samples, as well as selling cigarette packs that contain fewer than 20 cigarettes. Candy and fruit-flavored cigarettes will also be banned, as well as misleading labeling terms as “light” and “low tar” which give a false sense of safety to consumers, young and old.

Other restrictions include limiting tobacco product vending machines to adult-only facilities, forbidding tobacco sales to children younger than 18 years old, and increasing the minimum national tobacco purchasing age to eighteen years. Currently, some states allow for tobacco use of persons younger than 18, including North Carolina, Mississippi, and Pennsylvania. The FDA is also beefing up penalties for violators of these rules, which are unprecedented in our nation's history.

Research reveals that these new provisions are a significant victory in regulating an industry that has largely evaded federal oversight; marketing and advertising restrictions have in fact only emerged in the last forty years. Beginning in 1969, Congress banned cigarette television and radio ads, and in 1998 a historic class action lawsuit against the tobacco industry resulted in new rules that prohibited youth-oriented advertising. The FDA tried to restrict tobacco advertising in 1996, but the tobacco industry successfully challenged those efforts in court and argued that the agency has overstepped its authority. That laid the groundwork for a 13-year effort by public health groups to win passage of a new tobacco-control law. Though the lack of industry safeguards for children will soon be a thing of the past, government statistics show tobacco will present a real threat to their personal health.

According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), every day approximately 3,500 children will try a cigarette for the first time, and another 1,000 will become regular, daily smokers. National surveys have also found that 20 percent of all high school students are current smokers, creating devastating effects on their bodies. Near-terms health ailments from youth smoking include respiratory problems, tooth decay, increased illnesses, an pre-cancerous gene mutations. In a country where approximately 450,000 Americans die each year from smoking-related illnesses (lung cancer, heart disease, emphysema, etc.), more must be done to eradicate this deadly disease.

The Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization based in Washington DC, offers the public a prime opportunity to become more involved on this issue. Their network of citizen volunteers, known as “E-Champions,” use the power of the Internet to contact elected officials and place pressure on the tobacco industry to accept corporate responsibility for youth marketing. E-Champions are also invited to local tobacco cessation activism events, and are kept in constant contact with the latest news and research on this national health issue.

Praise is deserving for the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids and their tools for Internet activism. It's time for all citizens to stand up to Big Tobacco and take action on behalf of America's youth. Our role as a society is to foster not only social responsibility among our adolescents, but to guide them to make wise, healthy decisions in their formative years. The examples we set in our deeds and decisions have a powerful affect on our children; let's take the higher road, get involved and save lives today.