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Finally a President did something right. President Obama signed a new law; a press release from the White House states the law “requires the Federal Communications Commission to prescribe a regulation limiting the volume of audio on commercials transmitted by television broadcast stations, cable operators, and otehr multichannel video programming distributors.” They actually have to install technology that makes sure the volume of commercials doesn’t exceed the volume of the programs they air. The FCC will begin to enforce the law within a year.

“The country will now get the relief they deserve from the annoyance of blaringly loud television commercials,” said Rep. Eshoo in a press statement. “Consumers will no longer need to drive for the ‘mute’ button during commercial breaks.”

“The CALM Act, a pro-consumer measure signed into law December 19th by President Obama, will help lower the volume on TV commercials,” said FCC chairman Julius Genachowski in a press release. “The FCC will now focus on implementing the law to give consumers back the volume control on their TVs.” Congrats on your accomplishment, Obama.

The government’s new, nastier-than-ever cigarette labels are expected to roll out by September of 2012. The larger labels show images of cancer lesions, diseased lungs, rotten teeth, and dead humans with shocking text across the packaging.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration will require that the disturbing images cover at least 50% of the back of every cigarette package by October of 2012. The FDA also requires that the startling images take up at least 20% of every cigarette advertisement.

“For the first time ever, they will say that tobacco products are addictive, and they will say in the bluntest of terms that tobacco can kill,” FDA Commissioner Margaret Hamburg said. “We need to make sure that anyone who is considering smoking fully appreciates the consequences of cigarette use.”

New data from the Journal of Family Practices shows that in 2005, there was an abrupt halt in the once steady decline in teenage smoking rates. In 2009, the journal reports, 19.5 percent of American teens claimed to smoke regularly.

Addiction expert Harold D. Holder, of the Pacific Institute for Research and Evaluation, said that when it comes to cracking down on teenage smokers, price increases are much more effective than frightening images. He said, “research has shown that when the price of cigarettes go up, fewer people smoke. Anyone who knows teenagers knows that they all think, ‘it won’t happen to me.’”

Former smoker President Obama signed the 2009 Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act, which gives the FDA authority to regulate the content, marketing, and sale of tobacco products.

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