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Pulmonary medicine specialist Dr. Albert J. Polito, Director, The Lung Center at Mercy

Dr. Albert J. Polito, The Lung Center At Mercy, Speaks Out Against Smoking As President Obama Signs Anti-Smoking Bill

After signing the nation's strongest anti-smoking bill, President Barack Obama shared more details about his own personal struggle with nicotine. At a White House news conference, the President spoke of a habit he's battled for three decades.

It's a struggle that affects people of all ages and from all walks of life.

"As a former smoker, I constantly struggle with it. Have I fallen off the wagon with it? Yes," President Obama said.

President Obama acknowledges his own failed attempts to quit smoking a day after signing sweeping new legislation that gives the FDA the authority to regulate tobacco.

"This legislation will not ban all tobacco products and will allow adults to make their own choices," he said.

The Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act bans candy and fruit flavors in tobacco products, limits advertising that could attract young people, lowers the amount of addiction causing nicotine in tobacco products, blocks misleading labels like low tar and light and requires tobacco companies to cover their cartons with large, graphic warnings.

"Regulating the tobacco companies can be a very, very good thing. Putting warning labels on cigarette products is a very, very good thing," said pulmonary specialist Dr. Albert J. Polito, Director of The Lung Center at Mercy Medical Center.

According to Dr. Polito, smoking is now the leading cause of preventable death in the US.

"If people were to quit smoking, our rates of heart disease, lung cancer, other cancers like pancreatic, cervical would go down," Dr. Polito said.

If you've tried to quit smoking and have failed, Dr. Polito says one of the keys to success is really being motivated to quit. Once you're sure you want to do it, he recommends the nicotine patch or gum as well as the drugs Zyban and Chantix.

For more information and to see Dr. Polito's interview with WJZ-TV13, click this link: http://wjz.com/local/president.obama.smoking.2.1056700.html