FDA Releases Graphic Cigarette Warning Labels
June 24th, 2011
(Credit: U.S. Food and Drug Administration)
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on Tuesday revealed their selection of nine graphic warning labels required to appear on cigarette packages beginning next year.
Representing the most significant change to the labeling in over 25 years, the images include photographs of a man exhaling smoke through an opening in his neck, and people with damaged teeth and lungs.
Many experts laud the change as a significant step in the right direction, but it doesn’t go far enough, according to Carol Southard, who runs the smoking cessation program at Rush University Medical Center’s Prevention Center.
Generally, scare tactics don’t work,” said Southard, who has 26 years of experience in the field. “They may prevent some kids from smoking. But for current, adult smokers, they don’t need scary pictures. People need treatment — just like any addict would.”
Southard believes smokers generally know that what they’re doing is dangerous, so using graphic images isn’t going to help convince them of anything they aren’t already aware of. Instead, she would like more focus put on changing public policy and ways to get medical insurance to cover smoking cessation treatment.
“The message smokers need is: We know how difficult it is to quit, but there are ways to do it,” she said.
Southard and the Prevention Center focus on behavioral and cognitive changes people can make. She’s also a big believer in the medications that are used to help people quit, and she encourages smokers to at least try them.
And if we can stop more adults from smoking, the effect will trickle down to children.
“The biggest risk factor for kids is living with an adult smoker,” Southard said. “It’s learned behavior and there’s a genetic predisposition, just like with any addiction. So unless we help adults quit, we’re going to do very little to impact the high numbers of kids who start to smoke every day in this country.”
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Tags: Labels, Warning Labels
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