We are all guilty of eating when we are not really hungry. Some call it stress, while others say they just need to have something to keep them busy. Others say they don’t know why they are eating-they just eat and eat and eat. Is it due to the TV commercial for that juicy burger or oven hot pizza? How about just sitting and watching television. Have you worn out the path to the kitchen?Whatever the reason is, it’s not hunger that is stimulating this “extra” eating. And this “extra” eating  piles on the calories, lots of them! In between snacks and non hunger related snacking made up of carbs and fats are responsible for a large amount of the overweight and obesity we are seeing. So how do we change this persistent habit? A new study by a group of researchers at the University of Minnesota led by Kerri Boutelle, Ph.D. and published in the Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, demonstrates that by improving the responses to the clues of truly being hungry and decreasing the responses to non hunger related eating, children can be trained to respond better to hunger and less to other stimuli (e.g. television commercials focusing on food). Boutelle and her group were also able to train children to understand body clues better and to respond better to being satiated from a meal and not to overeat. Lesson: This study shows that hunger, satiety, overeating and non hunger related eating, are all behaviors that can be targeted for training and teaching. We can help our children to be better in touch with their feelings and to better understand when they are reacting to a non hunger stimulus. Here is an idea-shouldn’t we be able to select the commercials that will play during the programming that our children are watching ? TV commercial selection-the next frontier!

ARE YOU BEING TOLD BY YOUR DOCTOR THAT YOUR CHILD IS OVERWEIGHT? MOST STATISTICS SAY NO!

Researchers from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, led by Eliana M. Perrin, M.D., MPH, reviewed National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) data, collected on almost five thousand kids ages 2 to 15, with an elevated BMI, and found that only 22 percent of parents reported that they were told that their child was “overweight.” Only 58 percent of parents of children classified as “obese” by BMI criteria, were informed by health care providers that their children were obese. Lesson: As a parent, get involved in the health check up of your child. Ask about his or her weight. Ask whether the weight is normal, over or under established guidelines. Find out what the recommendations are depending on the status. Get connected! Don’t wait for the information to get to you-or not get to you!

NUTRITION LABELING MOVING TO THE FRONT OF THE PACKAGE (FOP)!

A new front of the package (FOP) nutrition labeling system will soon start showing up on our foods. Beginning with the Nutrition Labeling and Education Act of 1990, food companies were required to disclose nutrition information (servings per container, total calories, sodium, cholesterol, carbohydrates, proteins, sugar, etc. ) on the back of the package. Jumping to 2011-the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), have determined that they can make a bigger impact with FOP nutrition labeling, not only to detail the elements inside the food, but also to  “increase   the proportion of consumers who readily notice, understand and use the available information to make more nutritious choices for themselves and their families, and thereby prevent or reduce obesity and other diet related chronic disease.” A sneak peak at the components to be on the FOP label include the following: calories, saturated fats, trans fats, sodium and added sugars.  In addition, a symbol system designed to help consumers “distinguish between products of greater or lesser nutritional quality” will also be present. Lesson: FOP nutrition labeling will be here soon! It will be a welcome evolution to the original nutrition labeling system and hopefully will be easier for everyone to understand. It will also be a new push by the FDA/USDA to empower all of us with the information to make healthier choices for us and our children!

As a kid, I loved licorice. The red swirly sticks were always a big hit in my group of friends. And once in a while we would eat the black licorice and even the chocolate ones. But ever since finding out that black licorice has a chemical that can cause high blood pressure, I have been advising my friends and family to stay away. Yes, the chemical is called “glycyrrhizin” and according to the FDA, if it is consumed in a large enough quantity-more than 2 ounces a day for two weeks, or more, glycyrrhizin has the potential to cause high blood pressure and irregular heartbeats. How does it do this? Well, first of all it can cause your kidneys to lose more potassium than usual and as a result, this imbalance (when the potassium is lower than it should be) may make the conditions in your heart vulnerable to set up an irregular heart rhythm.  Secondly, the glycyrrhizin may cause your body to retain more salt and water-which can result in the body having a higher blood pressure and even a set up for heart failure (too much salt and water for the heart to handle). Thirdly, eating black licorice can interfere with other medicine that you may be taking including digoxin (a medicine used to control heart rhythms), laxatives and diuretics (a medicine that causes the body to excrete more water and electrolytes like sodium and potassium). And finally, black licorice may interfere with your cortisol metabolism-which can make you feel weak and have loss of muscle strength. What do you do? My opinion is to stay away from black licorice. There are many other varieties that do not have this dangerous chemical-so why chance it? For more information, please visit the FDA  at  FDA.gov/ForConsumersUpdates.

PUBLIC BATHROOMS ARE OVERLOADED WITH BACTERIA

University of Florida epidemiologist and researcher Dr. Lennox Archibald, presented a study recently indicating that public bathrooms are overloaded with bacteria. Testing indicated that bacteria cover all surfaces including faucet handles, paper dispensers and door knobs. And washing your hands after using the bathroom may not be good enough to eliminate your risk of infection as you touch various surfaces leaving the area. Archibald and his team tested bathrooms in public areas including aircraft, malls, restaurants and supermarkets and found multiple bacteria responsible for infections. So what do you do? Use a paper towel or your elbow to touch any surface in the bathroom, and avoid touching any surface on your way in and especially on your way out of the bathroom. And don’t forget your shoes-wash the bottoms of your shoes before entering your home-you can imagine what those surfaces have touched!!!

WEIGHT LOSS SURGERY FOR 12 YEAR OLDS?

Yes my friends, we have an epidemic of childhoods obesity. The statistics are grim: as reported by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), 17% of children ages 2-19 are obese. Lifestyle interventions, diets, exercise programs and a change in the school lunch programs are just some of the methods that are being used to combat this growing epidemic.  Many secondary medical issues in obese children are becoming more prevalent as a result of the excess weight, including diabetes, high cholesterol, high blood pressure, arthritis, cyst filled ovaries in girls and depression.  As a result, many pediatric physicians are now turning to a procedure once reserved for adults: weight loss surgery. The goal is to reduce the size of the stomach-either by placing a band around the top of the stomach, cutting the actual stomach to decrease the size and rerouting the intestines, all can have a positive benefit: by decreasing mortality, improvement and recovery from diabetes and improving heart status. So what’s the problem? Well, there are also risks of surgery: bleeding, blood clots, infection and death are just a few of the potential hazards. But the gain: bariatric surgery in a morbidly obese pre teen or teen can improve the child’s health-in many aspects from psychological to physical. What do you do? Well, of course lifestyle interventions should be number one on everyone’s list. Parental involvement is mandatory. However there still remains the children that are unsuccessful with every attempt. Shouldn’t we address these kids? We can’t keep saying to them, stop eating, and start exercising. That won’t help. I have never been one to casually suggest elective surgery, but in this situation, it has to be given a very hard and close look. The many benefits of giving a child back a productive life, a positive outlook and the ability to improve his survival chances may be rewarding enough to balance the risks. What do you think?

A recap of information from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the CDC about Listeria:

What are the Symptoms of Listeriosis?

Listeriosis is a rare and serious illness caused by eating food contaminated with bacteria called Listeria. Persons who think they might have become ill should consult their doctor. A person with listeriosis usually has fever and muscle aches(but also may present with neck stiffness, confusion and vomiting). 

Who is at Risk?

Listeriosis can be fatal, especially in certain high-risk groups. These groups include older adults, people with compromised immune systems and certain chronic medical conditions (such as cancer), and unborn babies and newborns. In pregnant women, listeriosis can cause miscarriage, stillbirth, and serious illness or death in newborn babies, though the mother herself rarely becomes seriously ill. 

What Do Consumers Need To Do?

Consumers should not eat Rocky Ford Cantaloupe shipped by Jensen Farms and should immediately discard the recalled cantaloupes in the trash in a sealed container so that children and animals, such as wildlife, cannot access them. Do not try to wash the harmful bacteria off the cantaloupe as contamination may be both on the inside and outside of the cantaloupe. Cutting, slicing and dicing may also transfer harmful bacteria from the fruit’s surface to the fruit’s flesh. Consumers who are concerned about illness from Listeria monocytogenes should consult their healthcare professionals. 

What Does the Product Look Like?

The cantaloupe may be labeled: Colorado Grown, Distributed by Frontera Produce, USA, Pesticide Free, Jensenfarms.com, Sweet Rocky Fords. http://www.fda.gov/Safety/Recalls/ucm271882.htm. 

The cantaloupes are packed in cartons that are labeled: Frontera Produce, www.fronteraproduce.com or with Frontera Produce, Rocky Ford Cantaloupes. Both cartons also include: Grown and packed by Jensen Farms Granada, CO and Shipped by Frontera Produce LTD, Edinburg, Texas. 

Not all of the recalled cantaloupes are labeled with a sticker. Consumers should consult the retailer if they have questions about the origin of a cantaloupe. 

Where is it Distributed?

The recalled cantaloupes were distributed to the following states: IL, WY, TN, UT, TX, CO, MN, KS, NM, NC, MO, NE, OK, AZ, NJ, NY, PA. Further distribution is possible. 

So what do you do? More information from the FDA:

Keep Refrigerated Foods Cold

Chilling food properly is an important way of reducing risk of Listeria infection. Although Listeria can grow at refrigeration temperatures, it grows more slowly at refrigerator temperatures of 40 degrees F or less.

• Keep your refrigerator at 40 degrees F or lower and the freezer at 0 degrees F or lower.
• Wrap or cover foods with a sheet of plastic wrap or foil or put foods in plastic bags or clean covered containers before you place them in the refrigerator. Make certain foods do not leak juices onto other foods.
• Place an appliance thermometer, such as a refrigerator thermometer, in the refrigerator, and check the temperature periodically.  Adjust the refrigerator temperature control, if necessary, to keep foods as cold as possible without causing them to freeze. Place a second thermometer in the freezer to check the temperature there.
• Use precooked and ready-to-eat foods as soon as you can. The longer they are stored in the refrigerator, the more chance Listeria has to grow.

Clean Refrigerator Regularly

Listeria can contaminate other food through spills in the refrigerator.

• Clean up all spills in your refrigerator right away—especially juices from hot dog and lunch meat packages, raw meat, and raw poultry. Consider using paper towels to avoid transferring germs from a cloth towel.
• Clean the inside walls and shelves of your refrigerator with warm water and liquid soap, then rinse. As an added measure of caution, you can sanitize your refrigerator monthly using the same procedures described below for kitchen surfaces

Clean Hands and Kitchen Surfaces Often

Listeria can spread from one surface to another.

• Thoroughly wash food preparation surfaces with warm, soapy water. As an added precaution you should sanitize clean surfaces by using any of the kitchen surface sanitizer products available from grocery stores, being careful to follow label directions.

You can make your own sanitizer by combining 1 teaspoon of unscented bleach to one 1 quart of water, flooding the surface and letting it stand for 10 minutes.  Then rinse with clean water.  Let surfaces air dry or pat them dry with fresh paper towels.  Bleach solutions get less effective with time, so discard unused portions daily.

• A cutting board should be washed with warm, soapy water after each use. Nonporous acrylic, plastic, or glass boards can be washed in a dishwasher. 
• Dish cloths, towels and cloth grocery bags should be washed often in the hot cycle of your washing machine.
• It’s also important, to wash hands with warm water and soap for at least 20 seconds before and after handling food.

Products in Canada are not affected and those products with the “KM” designation are not affected.

Here are the exact product numbers and specifications:

Kellogg’s® Apple Jacks®

• UPC 3800039136 1: 17 ounce package with Better if Used Before Dates between APR 10 2011 and JUN 22 2011
• UPC 3800039132 3: 8.7 ounce packages with Better if Used Before Dates between JUN 03 2011 and JUN 22 2011

Kellogg’s® Corn Pops®

• UPC 3800039109 5: 12.5 ounce packages with Better if Used Before Dates between MAR 26 2011 and JUN 22 2011
• UPC 3800039111 8: 17.2 ounce packages with Better if Used Before Dates between MAR 26 2011 and JUN 22 2011
• UPC 3800039116 3: 9.2 ounce packages with Better if Used Before Dates between APR 05 2011 and JUN 22 2011

Kellogg’s® Froot Loops®

• UPC 3800039118 7: 12.2 ounce packages with Better if Used Before Dates between MAR 26 2011 and JUN 22 2011
• UPC 3800039120 0: 17 ounce packages with Better if Used Before Dates between MAR 26 2011 and JUN 22 2011
• UPC 3800039125 5: 8.7 ounce packages with Better if Used Before Dates between MAR 26 2011 and JUN 22 2011

Kellogg’s® Honey Smacks®

• UPC 3800039103 3: 15.3 ounce packages with Better if Used Before Dates between MAR 26 2011 and JUN 22 2011

 For any questions regarding these cereals, please contact the following:

Kellogg Media Hotline
 269-961-3799
media.hotline@kellogg.com

or

Kellogg Consumer Response Center at 888-801-4163 from 8 am to 8 pm Eastern time.

My friend’s, stay fit and healthy The New Nerdel Way.

Wash your hands.

It seems basic, but not everyone does it. Wash hands well and often with soap and water for at least 20 seconds, especially after using the bathroom and before cooking or eating. If you’re in an outdoor setting with no bathroom, use a water jug, some soap, and paper towels. Consider carrying moist disposable towelettes for cleaning your hands.

Keep Everything Clean

Be sure there are plenty of clean utensils and platters. To prevent foodborne illness, don’t use the same platter and utensils for raw and cooked meat and poultry. Harmful bacteria present in raw meat and poultry and their juices can contaminate safely cooked food.

If you’re eating away from home, find out if there’s a source of clean water. If not, bring water for preparation and cleaning. Or pack clean cloths, and wet towelettes for cleaning surfaces and hands.

Thaw Safely

Completely thaw meat and poultry before grilling so it cooks more evenly. Use the refrigerator for slow, safe thawing or thaw sealed packages in cold water. You can microwave defrost if the food will be placed immediately on the grill.

Transporting

When carrying food to another location, keep it cold to minimize bacterial growth. Use an insulated cooler with sufficient ice or ice packs to keep the food at 40 °F or below. Pack food right from the refrigerator into the cooler immediately before leaving home.

Keep raw food separate from cooked food.

Don’t use a plate that previously held raw meat, poultry, or seafood for anything else unless the plate has first been washed in hot, soapy water. Keep utensils and surfaces clean.

Marinate food in the refrigerator, not out on the counter.

And if you want to use some of the marinade as a sauce on the cooked food, reserve a separate portion. Don’t reuse marinade that contained raw meat.

Cook food thoroughly.

To kill any harmful bacteria that may be present, use a food thermometer. Hamburgers should be cooked to 160°F. If a thermometer is not available, make sure hamburgers are brown all the way through, not pink. Chicken should be cooked to at least 165°F. If you partially cook food in the microwave, oven or stove to reduce grilling time, do so immediately before the food goes on the hot grill.

SAFE MINIMUM INTERNAL TEMPERATURES

Whole poultry: 165 °F

Poultry breasts: 165 °F

Ground poultry: 165 °F

Hamburgers, beef: 160 °F

Beef, veal, and lamb (steaks, roasts and chops):

Medium rare 145 °FM

Medium 160 °F

All cuts of pork: 160 °

Refrigerate and freeze food promptly.

It can be hard to remember while a party is going on, but food should not be left out of the cooler or off the grill for more than two hours. Never leave food out for more than one hour when the temperature is above 90°F.

Keep hot food hot.

Hot food should be kept at or above 140°F. Hot food should be wrapped well and placed in an insulated container. If bringing hot take-out food such as fried chicken or barbecue to an outdoor party, eat it within two hours of purchase. In addition to bringing a grill and fuel for cooking to an outdoor location, remember to pack a food thermometer to check that your meat and poultry reach a safe internal temperature. When re-heating food at the outing, be sure it reaches 165°F.

Keep cold food cold.

Cold food should be held at or below 40°F. Foods like chicken salad and desserts that are in individual serving dishes can be placed directly on ice or in a shallow container set in a deep pan filled with ice. Drain off water as ice melts and replace ice frequently.

Ready for your exam? Study hard because Barbecue Basics 102 is coming up next!

Stay fit and healthy The New Nerdel Way!

Overweight vs. Obese: (CDC) These are terms used to classify kids and adults and based on Body Mass Index (BMI-height and weight). BMI for kids and teens takes into account growth changes, differences in body fat between boys and girls. BMI calculator for Child and Teen. So go to your pediatrician’s (or primary healthy provider) office and get your child’s BMI measured. The BMI number will be plotted in a CDC BMI-for-age growth chart. You will find out whether he or she is in the A. Underweight category: less than the 5^th percentile, B. Healthy weight category: 5^th percentile to less than the 85^th percentile, C. Overweight Category: 85^th percentile to less than 95^th percentile and D. Obese: Equal to or greater than the 95^th percentile. This simple office visit will tell you all about where your child is relative to other children of the same age and sex. It will allow you to focus on how best you can help your child. Some school systems in the country, like in Arkansas, measure the BMI’s of their students and routinely send out a “BMI Report Card” to the parents. For most parents who actually look at the report, it is an eye opener. “How can that be,” we ask, “my child is not overweight and is definitely not obese.” But my friends, the harsh reality is that those of us that have heavier children underestimate our own child’s weight more often.

Calorie: is a unit of energy supplied by food. Proteins (soy, chicken, meat, fish), fats (butter, lard, olive oil, vegetable oil), and carbohydrates (sugars, glucose, starch, bread, pasta, rice) all have calories. It is the balance of calories that affects your body weight. To maintain your weight, you will eat about the same amount of calories as you are using/burning up-in your routine daily activities. To gain weight, you will eat more calories that your body is using, and to lose weight, you will either eat less calories than your body is using or you will burn up more calories in your daily activities (e.g. more exercise) with the same calorie intake.

How many calories equals one pound of fat: 3500. 

It all comes down to balance. When energy in the form of calories or food enters the body, through normal body mechanisms and exercise or play, that energy is burned off. What is not burned off remains and is turned into fat. To maintain a weight, the balance of energy coming in and energy used is achieved.  With more calories taken in than is used, there is a positive balance resulting in a weight gain. With less calories coming in than is used, there is a negative balance and a weight loss.

Portion Size: that amount of food that is consumed. Okay-now we have a problem. What exactly is a portion size? Is it the size of my fist? The size of the plate? We have grown accustomed to larger and larger portion sizes. In Europe, the portion sizes have been small. In Spain, with a meal called Tapas, the portions are small-called finger foods (appetizers). But here in the United States, we do things big! “Livin Large” is what we call it. And it’s true to the meaning. We are a large people and getting larger. Our portion sizes are huge. And we are exercising less. What does that mean-it means we are expanding our waist sizes at alarming rates.

How Many Calories Should My Child Eat? Look at the following table supplied by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) My Pyramid program: 

Find The Right Calorie Level For Your Child

Portion sizes need to be controlled, but are we ready for that? Are we ready for the Portion Police or Exercise Police? Could happen! Stay tuned for part three.

Hello salty!! Now the experts sights are on salt as the bad actor. We all know that our bodies need a small amountof salt(i.e.sodium-most commonly known as sodium-chloride) everyday.  Our bodies lose salt during the day-through sweat evaporation from our skin, via our kidneys and this may increase depending on other factors like illness (more loss), exercise (more loss), hot weather (more loss) and certain medications like diuretics. The problem is that we usually consume more than ten times the amount of salt that we actually need. When we eat salt, the salt attracts water. Its simple-salty items make us thirsty. The more salt we eat, the more water we drink. More water causes us to have more fluid in the body which over loads the normal bodies mechanisms for handling the extra salt and water and that causes our blood pressure to rise. Higher blood pressures cause our heart to work harder- which can ultimately cause heart attacks and heart failure. Some people like the elderly, African- Americans  and diabetics have more difficulty handling the extra salt load. So that’s why our doctors and medical establishment have been promoting a lower salt diet. But you know what low or no salt foods taste like-blah blah and blah. Can we all say no taste, bland, blah! Well, many food companies experienced a decrease in sales of food items that were made with a lower or no salt content and marketed that way. So now, many food corporations have been lowering the salt content of their products very very slowly. A recent Wall Street Journal article revealed that food giants like Conagra, Unilever and Campbell Soup have been quietly lowering the sodium content in their products without any obvious advertising or promotion. Wait a minute! You mean to say that they have been trying to actually help us? That can’t be! Yes, my friends, Corporate America is addressing a medical problem which will ultimately help all of us. So what if they are not promoting it-I think we should all get into the habit of reading the food labels anyway (see Meet The Food Labels in The Nerdel News). That way  we can see how much sodium is truly in our foods. Generally speaking, and according to medical experts, we should take in between 2000 and 4000 milligrams of sodium a day. Some people need to be on a very low sodium diet-even lower than 2000 milligrams. So, my friends, I am happy to report that  these food companies are decreasing the sodium content-you may not notice it-but its happening-and it’s a good thing!

 Living in a smoke free state, I remember when smokers would sit next to me in a restaurant and light up. The glares and stares and that smell of buring tobacco intruding on my clean air. Now when someone reaches for the salt shaker-will that elicit same behavior? Will there be a lot of Oooooo’s and Ahhhhhs? And whispers in the room, “look at that –how much salt he is using. He’s gona have a heart attack right there in his chair.” We are a critical people aren’t we!!  We love to comment on what others should or shouln’t do. Is it out of caring? I hope so-caring for our fellow Americans. That’s the way it should be.

But wait a moment-that’s not all. Breaking news: the FDA now wants food companies to list nutritional information on the front of food containers/items. As you know, the nutritional label is mostly on the side or back. By posting it on the front, the FDA hopes you will look at it, study it, and see what you will be eating and how many calories, grams of salt amd sugar you will be consuming with each serving. Here’s the next problem-what is a serving size? Exactly my point!  Don’t forget that the nutritional information is based on the serving size. My daughter has a bowl of cereal in the morning. Its probably two or three servings. She is hungry-and breakfast is truly the most important meal of the day. Kids who eat a good breakfast do better on tests and in school. But am I giving her too many calories. Thens she puts healthy blueberries, strawberries and bananas in the cereal. More calories.Then the milk-now she’s way over the top. We need to re evaluate serving sizes. They can be confusing. I think that many people eat many more calories that they would normally if they knew about serving sizes. That includes how much they will eat at a restaurant. Some restaurants will list the calorie counts next to the item-but not the serving size. How big is that piece of fish? Are they delivering one serving, one and a half, two? Who knows-maybe the chef. So when you look at a bag of potato chips and it says one servings is 100 calories-see how many chips that is. After all who can eat ten chips and put the bag away?  At the end of the bowl game, you may have eaten an entire bag of chips-several hundred calories, hundreds of grams of sodium and fat. What!

Read the food label. You can learn so much and this will help you eat healthier. There are so many great foods out there. Eating should be a wonderful experience. Understanding what you are eating and what is a serving size, can help you stay fit, can help you maintain your weight, lose weight, and of course gain weight. You are in control of what goes past your lips. With a small bit of education under your belt, you will be able to enjoy food the way it was meant to be. Learn about the food label. Be careful eating out-usually the portion sizes are way to big. Share with someone. If it looks too  big-it probably is!

So good bye trans-fats. Keep low salty! And Mr. Serving Size, you need to explain yourself!!! My friends, staying healthy is really up to all of us!

Stay fit and healthy The New Nerdel Way!

What’s even worse are the effects on our children. One out of every five children in our country are now current smokers by the time they leave high school. Think about that statistic: One out of every five children in our country are now current smokers by the time they leave high school. Each day, 1,000 young people under the age of 18 become new, regular, daily smokers. And almost 90 percent of all smokers began at or before their 18th birthday.

In addition, the President went on to describe a personal story about his smoking, “I know — I was one of these teenagers, and so I know how difficult it can be to break this habit when it’s been with you for a long time. And I also know that kids today don’t just start smoking for no reason. They’re aggressively targeted as customers by the tobacco industry. They’re exposed to a constant and insidious barrage of advertising where they live, where they learn, and where they play. Most insidiously, they are offered products with flavorings that mask the taste of tobacco and make it even more tempting.”

So what will the new legislation do? The President responded, “This legislation will not ban all tobacco products, and it will allow adults to make their own choices. But it will also ban tobacco advertising within a thousand feet of schools and playgrounds. It will curb the ability of tobacco companies to market products to our children by using appealing flavors. It will force these companies to more clearly and publicly acknowledge the harmful and deadly effects of the products they sell. And it will allow the scientists at the FDA to take other common-sense steps to reduce the harmful effects of smoking.”

Here are the key elements of the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act of 2009:

• New Center for Tobacco Products: FDA will create a new Center for Tobacco Products to oversee the science-based regulation of tobacco products in the United States.
• Banning Candy-Flavored Cigarettes: By October 2009, cigarettes will be prohibited from having candy, fruit, and spice flavors as their characterizing flavors.
• Full Disclosure of Ingredients and Additives: By January 2010, tobacco manufacturers and importers will submit information to FDA in their possession about ingredients and additives in tobacco products, a description of the nicotine content and delivery, and the health consequences of tobacco products.
• Stopping Youth-Focused Marketing: By April 2010, FDA will issue the agency’s 1996 regulation aimed at reducing young people’s access to tobacco products and curbing the appeal of tobacco to the young. When the regulation becomes effective, a number of measures will take effect, including:
  • Tobacco manufacturers may no longer sponsor sporting, athletic, and entertainment events using tobacco product brand names and logos;
  • Tobacco manufacturers may no longer sell or give away clothing or other items which bear the brand name or logo of a tobacco product; and
  • Tobacco manufacturers will no longer be able to distribute free samples of cigarettes, and free samples of smokeless tobacco will be allowed only in adult-only facilities.
• Prohibiting Other Marketing Measures Misleading Consumers: By July 2010, tobacco manufacturers may no longer use the terms “light,” “low,” and “mild” on tobacco products.
• New Warning Labels: By July 2011, warning labels for cigarettes and smokeless tobacco products will be revised and strengthened. Warnings will comprise the top 50 percent of the front and rear panels of the package. FDA will issue regulations requiring graphics on labels depicting the health risks of smoking.

The Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act of 2009 also provides FDA with regulatory authority to regulate marketing and promotion of tobacco products and set performance standards for tobacco products to protect the public health.

My comments: We must congratulate President Obama for signing this important piece of legislation. And at the same time we must say to our congressional delegates-what took so long? Finally, both Democrats and Republicans came together, to enact regulations that are in the best interests of our children’s health. T he Act will save millions of dollars spent on health care for the smoking illnesses that will be prevented. Our children have been the target of billions of dollars of tobacco advertising. This should not have been tolerated. Can corporate America pledge the same amount of advertising dollars to show how kids can eat healthy and exercise? Can the corporate advertising dollars show how important the family table is, how important reading is, how important being there as a parent is? I hope so. You see, I have a lot of faith-and I believe that all of us can make a positive impact on our children. The Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act of 2009 is a law that will reduce the number of American children who pick up a cigarette and become adult smokers. And most importantly, it is a law that will save American lives and make Americans healthier.

President Obama is the leader of the free world and a dad. By signing this act into law, he has brought another level of protection to each and every child in these United States.