Will graphic warning labels on cigarettes lower smoking rates?

[cynatnite]

RICHMOND, Va. – Corpses, cancer patients and diseased lungs are among the images the federal government plans for larger, graphic warning labels that would take up half of each pack of cigarettes sold in the United States.

Whether smokers addicted to nicotine will see them as a reason to quit remains a question.

The images are part of a new campaign announced by the Food and Drug Administration and the Department of Health and Human Services on Wednesday to reduce tobacco use, which is responsible for about 443,000 deaths per year.

"Some very explicit, almost gruesome pictures may be necessary," FDA Commissioner Margaret Hamburg said in an interview with The Associated Press. "This is a very, very serious public health issue, with very, very serious medical consequences," such as cancer, heart disease, strokes and lung diseases.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20101110/ap_on_bi_ge/us_fda_tobacco_18

IMO, I think not.

[gateley]

1. I don't think so, either. Those of us who smoke know the dangers and do it

anyway. My father (a doctor) used to slip pics of cancerous lungs under my bedroom door :7, but that didn't work, either. We all think it won't happen to us.

[cynatnite]

2. He really did that?

LOL.

I quit smoking three years ago and I've come to the conclusion that people quit when they're ready.

[gateley]

4. Yeah he did! I'd hear a little tap on my bedroom door and growl WHAT?!?!

Then I'd see this picture from some medical journal come peeking in under the door. He'd do it when he was on his way out in the morning. It was pretty funny. But one thing he said that DID give me pause (but not enough) was "It's not just the lung cancer, Mary Ellen, it's the emphysema. Those people really suffer, it's a terrible way to live."

I quit once for a couple of years and LOVED being a non-smoker. Obviously, started again and have tried and tried but haven't been successful again. Yet. I agree, there's something that just HAPPENS to make your ready sometimes. I've done it with dieting, too. If we knew how to turn on on that 'ready' button, we could apply it to so many areas of our lives!

I'm so happy for your success! :hi:

[onehandle]

3. The article says the rates have dropped in Canada since the labels.

And the World Health Organization says it definitely increases awareness of the risks. You don't have to read or be able to read to see the effects.

http://www.who.int/bulletin/volumes/87/8/09-069575/en

[demosincebirth]

6. Increase the tax until they are prohibitive to buy.

[The Straight Story]

5. will pics of aborted fetuses lower the abortion rate?

Let's control the choices of others through govt regulations and fear. If you are against it for one thing, why are you not for another (not you personally).

Consistency, it is lacking on the left.

[cynatnite]

8. Would pictures of dead people stop a war?

Images can influence, but for the most part...I think it takes far more for a person to decide one way or the other whether it's smoking, abortion, or even war.

[The Straight Story]

10. As I said elsewhere - put pics of dead people on our money

Since our money is going to fund wars that kill kids and people half a world away that are no threat.

My smoking hurts me, my working and paying taxes is killing lots more people.

Some folks though have nothing better to do with their time though then to tell me how to live my life - all the while they are spewing pollution from their cars and sending their taxes to a war machine that drops bombs on people from drones.

If they really wanted to stand on principle maybe they would quit their jobs - or better yet, quit their fucking whining about smokers in bars that people choose to go to and focus their anger on how their hard earned money is going to bombs that are maiming and killing kids who are no threat to us.

Control freaks - they are on the left and the right - and each side complains about the other trying to take away their freedoms.

[cynatnite]

12. Well, smoking still hurts nonsmokers...

It kills me that my grandchild is living in a house of smokers. Studies are showing that second hand smoke and even third hand smoke is damaging.

If I decided I wanted to be in a bar, I shouldn't be subjected to other people's smoke. I quit smoking for a reason and I don't want to inhale someone else's smoke.

I don't care if you smoke or not. It's your lungs. I care about mine and I don't want smoke in them anymore.

[Motown_Johnny]

7. it sure won't raise them.... what if it saves just one life?

isn't that enough?

[Liberal_in_LA]

9. eww... I don't want to glimpse those pics when I'm shopping

[Liquorice]

11. When I smoked, I was already terrified of getting cancer, but I had extreme

difficulty in quitting. Those pictures would have just made things worse for me. I already knew my life was at risk because of my smoking. I am BEYOND relieved that I was finally able to quit, but making people who smoke even more terrified than they already are doesn't seem right. They're already very afraid if my experience is any indication. I don't support these graphic warnings because they are abusive to people who are suffering with a terrible addiction.

[applegrove]

13. We started with the pictures over a decade ago in Canada. At first the photos make you think.

But after a few years the effectiveness goes down and people no longer pay any attention to the photos. Too bad. As a former smoker I can say I wish I had quit 10 years ago instead of 2 years ago like I did.

[backscatter712]

14. I can't wait to see the "Thank You For Smoking" moments in the Beltway over this...

:popcorn: