( CNN ) -- The tobacco industry was once a well-funded behemoth in American politics , and while Big Tobacco 's power is slowly eroding , its influence is far from gone . Once President Obama signs the new tobacco bill , the tobacco industry will be subject to federal regulation . President Obama on Monday signed a bill that gives the Food and Drug Administration power to regulate the manufacturing , marketing and sale of tobacco . Anti-tobacco activists champion the legislation as a historic step forward for public health , but even some who have fought tobacco concede that the tobacco companies scored some wins in the final legislation . `` It 's a great victory for the public health community , but I would not overestimate the demise of the tobacco industry and their ability to lobby , '' said Paul G. Billings , vice president of national policy and advocacy for the American Lung Association . In the past century , the tobacco industry has been distinctive in its ability to avoid coming under the authority of the FDA , while almost every other consumer product has been subject to federal regulation . Congress voted in 1965 to require all cigarette packages to carry warning labels , a warning that was made under the surgeon general 's name five years later . The legislation Congress approved this month , known as the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act , would give the FDA power to ban candy and fruit-flavored cigarettes , widely considered appealing to first-time smokers , including youths . It would prohibit tobacco companies from using terms such as `` low tar , '' `` light '' or `` mild , '' require larger warning labels on packages that show pictures of the effects of tobacco use and restrict advertising of tobacco products . It also would require tobacco companies to reduce levels of nicotine in cigarettes . Similar legislation , introduced by Sen. John McCain , R-Arizona , more than a decade ago , failed to make it through Congress . Patrick Reynolds , whose grandfather founded the R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. , said the passage of the bill `` marks the diminished clout of the tobacco lobby on the Hill . '' Stanton Glantz , a longtime anti-tobacco advocate and director of the Center for Tobacco Control Research and Education at the University of California , San Francisco , said the public health community has made `` gigantic progress '' over the past few decades , but he sees the FDA bill as a win for Philip Morris USA , the nation 's biggest cigarette company . At last week 's annual National Conference on Tobacco or Health , a large anti-tobacco gathering , in Phoenix , Arizona , Glantz said only about half of the room applauded when it was announced that the legislation passed . `` People were talking about making lemonade out of lemons , '' he said . `` Basically , the public health people cut a deal with Philip Morris . '' Philip Morris , which is owned by Altria Group Inc. , was the only major tobacco company to endorse the legislation , although the company has expressed some First Amendment reservations about parts of it . Glantz argues that the legislation legitimizes the tobacco industry at a time when `` legitimacy was being lost . '' His biggest complaint : The bill creates a 12-member advisory board through which all regulations will flow . Tobacco industry representatives will hold three nonvoting seats . `` Putting three guys on this committee would be a little bit like putting three mobsters on the Department of Justice committee on organized crime , '' Glantz said , echoing the sentiment of other strong tobacco-control advocates . R.J. Reynolds said one of its early objections to the legislation was that Philip Morris had a role in crafting it . `` The only way a company can grow is at the expense of another , '' said Maura Payne , vice president of communications for Reynolds American Inc. Philip Morris argues the bill wo n't create a commercial advantage for it and instead will create a framework for an emerging market of `` reduced-harm products . '' `` For adults who use tobacco products who want to avoid the health risks of smoking , the best thing for them to do is quit , '' said William Phelps , a spokesman for Altria . `` Our goal would be to design the best products that we can and then , under federal authority , make those products available to adults who do not quit . ''
President Obama signs bill putting tobacco under FDA control . The bill is a victory for Philip Morris , anti - tobacco advocate says . Grandson of R.J. Reynolds says : Bill marks ` ` diminished clout '' of tobacco lobby .