Connecticut Attorney General's Office

Press Release

Attorney General Calls Tobacco Bill Signing An Historic Public Health Victory

June 22, 2009

"This event -- the signing of the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act -- marks one of the greatest public health victories of our time, and a preeminent goal of successful state legal action that I helped to lead more than 10 years ago.

"This law is a singular, historic triumph for attorneys general who battled Big Tobacco to a settlement that would have established FDA regulatory authority, never approved by Congress, in the 1990s.

"We have continued our relentless fight against Big Tobacco over the years, stopping deceptive and youth-targeted advertising and products, including candy-flavored cigarettes. The federal government -- once a tobacco enabler -- will now be a fierce enforcement partner.

"The FDA must act swiftly to reduce nicotine in tobacco products, ban candy flavorings and block label misnomers such as 'low tar' and 'light.' Big Tobacco can no longer have free reign to mislead citizens, particularly our children, into lifetimes of tobacco-related addiction, disease and death."