President Obama signed this bill in to law on 22 June 2009. Below are some of the reactions to this controversial bill.
NPR notes the President's own struggles with nicotine addiction.
CNN highlights the support from the voluntary health organizations, and also includes a dissenting opinion from Stan Glantz - "The bill creates a 12-member advisory board through which all regulations will flow. Tobacco industry representatives will hold three nonvoting seats. Putting three guys on this committee would be a little bit like putting three mobsters on the Department of Justice committee on organized crime." This article also notes the objection to the Philip Morris involvement in drafting the bill from rival tobacco companies.
Michael Siegel - is frustrated by the PR coup that Philip Morris is experiencing from this bill.
Seven-time Tour de France winner pushes Washington to put more dollars to cancer research and prevention in this op-ed from the The Hill. In recognition of the role of tobacco in cancer, Armstrong highlights the need for higher tobacco taxes and more smoke-free legislation. He also cites the importance of the FDA Bill to regulate tobacco (it passed the Senate today).
The NYT recently published an editorial on the issue of using taxes on junk food to reduce obesity. This editorial highlights two of the major issues facing obesity researchers; 1) the obesity epidemic is a complex problem, and there is no magic bullet that will solve this problem (moreover, many of the proposed remedies are not yet sufficiently supported by the literature), and 2) many of the potential remedies face stiff opposition due the cost of implementation or - as in this case - industry opposition.
