Obama signs landmark tobacco legislation into law

ASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama on Monday signed into law a landmark bill that gives the U.S. government broad regulatory power for the first time over cigarettes and other tobacco products.

Obama, who said he began smoking as a teenager, said the law would curb the ability of tobacco companies to market their products to children.

"It will force these companies to more clearly and publicly acknowledge the harmful and deadly effects of the products they sell," Obama said, adding that he knew how hard it was for people to give up smoking.


"I know how difficult it can be to break this habit when it's been with you for a long time."

The law marked the culmination of a quest by tobacco industry foes in Congress dating back more than a decade to put cigarettes under the control of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

The bill allows the FDA to put stringent new limits on the manufacturing and marketing of tobacco products but stops short of banning cigarettes or their addictive ingredient nicotine.

Nearly 20 percent of Americans smoke, and tobacco use kills about 440,000 people a year in the United States due to cancer, heart disease, emphysema and other ailments, officials say.

(Reporting by Jeff Mason, Editing by Sandra Maler)