News Release

Statement by HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius and HHS Agencies on the Signing of the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act

Today, President Obama took historic action to save lives, reduce health care costs, and help reduce suffering from heart and lung diseases, cancer, and other tobacco-related illnesses. These illnesses kill hundreds of thousands of Americans every year, and the new law gives us the tools to effectively address this major public health issue. This is a key step forward and an important part of health reform.  

HHS and its agencies are committed to working together to bring a creative, science-based approach to reduce the hazards of smoking and other tobacco use. The implementation of this critical legislation strengthens our public health mission and we will continue to work diligently to protect our children and improve the health of all Americans.

For information, please visit: www.hhs.gov and www.FDA.gov/tobacco.

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Note: All HHS press releases, fact sheets and other press materials are available at http://www.hhs.gov/news.

Last revised: July 30, 2009