FDA Looks to Scare Smokers Through Graphic Labels

By Travis Chan

New Rochelle, NY--Will images of a mother blowing smoke into her baby’s face urge smokers to quit? Will the picture of a man smoking through a hole in his throat discourage teens from this activity? The FDA is asking these questions as they consider a new campaign to deter smoking.
The FDA is now examining (From now through Jan. 9) 36 images to place on the cigarette packages. By June 22, 2011, it will select nine warning labels to appear on the packages and by Oct. 22, 2012, all cigarette packages will have the new labels. The labels will cover half the surface of packs or cartons, as well as a fifth of any cigarette advertisement.
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The U.S. is not the only country to include these graphic labels. In 2000, Canada introduced similar warning labels. Since then, the country’s smoking rates have dropped from 26 percent to 20 percent. It’s unclear whether the labels played a role in the decline because the country implemented other tobacco control campaigns.
In Europe, it is mandatory that cigarette packages contain one of 14 warnings. The United Kingdom and Belgium are the only countries not to implement the warning labels.
The number of Americans who smoke has declined since 1970, from roughly 40 percent to 20 percent, however, the rate has stalled since 2004. It is still not clear as to why declines in smoking have become stagnant. Some experts point to tobacco discounts and a lack of funding for programs to help smokers quit. About 46 million adults smoke cigarettes in the U.S.
There is still debate about whether these new warnings will work. This campaign, created by the FDA and the Department of Health and Human Services, seeks to reduce tobacco use, which causes 443,000 deaths a year, according to KGW.com. FDA Commissioner Margaret Hamburg says that, "Some very explicit, almost gruesome pictures may be necessary. This is a very, very serious public health issue, with very, very serious medical consequences."
Some say that the labels will work.
Patrick Reynolds, executive director of the Foundation for a Smokefree America says, "This is going to stop kids from starting to smoke ... and it's going to give smokers a strong incentive to quit smoking."
Stanton Glantz, a tobacco researcher at the University of California at San Francisco, thinks that they will be “tremendously effective.”
Others, however, think that the labels will not affect the smoking epidemic. Zak Hoffman, who is now 27-years-old, began smoking when he was 14. "I don't think they're going to be a deterrent at all for people who already smoke,” he says. “Most people start smoking when they're young, and I don't think they're going to think about the effects."
Twenty-year-old Gina Gatano adds that, “more tax increases would have more of an effect than scare tactics.”

Cancer. Damaged lungs. Rotten teeth. That’s what American smokers may be staring at the next time they buy a pack of cigarettes. Can Americans be scared smokeless? Or will it take another hit to our pocketbooks for them to snuff out their cigarettes? A year from now, we may have an answer.

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