Jump to full article: Miami (FL) Herald, 2009-06-22
Author: Barbara Barrett McClatchy Newspapers
Intro: The Food and Drug Administration now has the authority to regulate tobacco products, under a law that President Barack Obama signed Monday at a Rose Garden ceremony.
With children onstage and sprinkled among audience members, and with the new playground for the presidential daughters in the distance, Obama said the new law would curtail the "constant, insidious" advertising that tobacco companies targeted to kids.
He pointed out that nearly 90 percent of smokers start before age 18.
"I know; I was one of those teenagers," Obama said in his speech. . . .
Obama, who's struggled with his own addition to cigarettes, ignored a question from the press gallery after the ceremony as he was shaking visitors' hands.
"Mr. President, how difficult has your struggle been with smoking?" CNN's Dan Lothian asked.
Obama glanced up, then turned away.
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