chicot60
06-21-2011, 06:19 PM
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8sE5nRIFZqU&feature=player_detailpage
FDA issues graphic cigarette labels
By James R. Carroll, The (Louisville, Ky.) Courier-Journal
Canada has done it. So have Europe, Australia and parts of South America.
Now it's the United States' turn.
The Food and Drug Administration unveiled graphic and startling health warnings Tuesday morning that must cover half of the front and half of the back of every cigarette pack sold in this country by September 2012.
The nine different warnings include a picture of what appears to be a dead man with stitches down his chest and the words, "Smoking can kill you."
PHOTOS: New cigarette lables feature graphic images
Another shows a diseased mouth and the message, "Cigarettes cause cancer." A third says "Cigarettes are addictive" and shows smoke coming from a man's tracheal tube.
Each warning label carries the number for the nationwide "quit line," 1-800-QUIT-NOW.
The sometimes shocking warnings, which all will be rotating simultaneously among all cigarette brands, are a major step in the federal government's effort to cut the smoking rate among Americans almost in half by 2020.
"If people are shocked, they should be shocked because these are the true health effects of smoking," Dr. Lawrence Deyton, director of the FDA's Center for Tobacco Products, said in an interview.
He said that his agency is projecting that after the first year of the new warnings, more than 200,000 smokers will have quit.
"Obviously, that means there are over 200,000 families that do not have to go through the horrors of the long-term effects of smoking -- the disease, the disability, the death," Deyton said.
For decades, cigarette packs have carried a health warning from the U.S. surgeon general. But critics have called it a relatively unobtrusive message that has long outlived its effectiveness.
The nine new health warnings, chosen from 36 proposed labels, may come as an eye-opener to smokers and non-smokers alike: the pictures and strong warnings will be impossible not to see. Similar warnings will be required to cover 20 percent of any cigarette advertising.
The new labels are required under provisions of the landmark law signed by President Barack Obama two years ago that for the first time gave the FDA the power to regulate tobacco products.
The warnings were hailed by public health groups as a milestone in the fight against smoking.
"The stark new warnings will provide a much-needed boost to efforts to prevent kids from smoking, encourage smokers to quit and make sure all Americans fully understand the deadly consequences of cigarette smoking," said Matthew Myers, president of the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids.
"These new warnings will tell the truth about how deadly and unglamorous cigarette smoking truly is," he said in a statement.
"The new health warnings represent an aggressive and welcome approach to reducing smoking rates," said American Heart Association CEO Nancy Brown. "We're confident that the new labels will move us closer to our goal of making the nation 100 percent smoke-free."
Tobacco accounts for 30 percent of the nation's cancer deaths and tobacco use is responsible for 443,000 deaths and about $100 billion in health care costs annually, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said in November that while the number of Americans who smoke has dropped from 42 percent in 1965 to less than 21 percent in 2004, that lower rate has not budged much despite state and local anti-smoking campaigns, restrictions on the sales and marketing of tobacco products and ordinances banning smoking in restaurants and public places.
"The bad news is … youth and adult smoking rates have been flat," Sebelius said.
The government's goal is to slash the current smoking rate to 12 percent by 2020, she said.
Since the 2009 law took effect, the Center for Tobacco Products has banned flavored cigarettes, except menthol brands; outlawed the use of "light," "mild" and "low tar" to describe cigarettes; restricted the tobacco industry's sponsorship of sports and entertainment events, as well as the distribution of free tobacco samples and free items with tobacco logos; established a national minimum age of 18 for tobacco purchases; and banned vending-machine cigarette sales except in adult-only sites such as bars.
The FDA's anti-tobacco programs are paid for by fees imposed on the tobacco industry.
http://yourlife.usatoday.com/health/story/2011/06/FDA-issues-graphic-cigarette-labels/48676990/1?csp=hf
FDA issues graphic cigarette labels
By James R. Carroll, The (Louisville, Ky.) Courier-Journal
Canada has done it. So have Europe, Australia and parts of South America.
Now it's the United States' turn.
The Food and Drug Administration unveiled graphic and startling health warnings Tuesday morning that must cover half of the front and half of the back of every cigarette pack sold in this country by September 2012.
The nine different warnings include a picture of what appears to be a dead man with stitches down his chest and the words, "Smoking can kill you."
PHOTOS: New cigarette lables feature graphic images
Another shows a diseased mouth and the message, "Cigarettes cause cancer." A third says "Cigarettes are addictive" and shows smoke coming from a man's tracheal tube.
Each warning label carries the number for the nationwide "quit line," 1-800-QUIT-NOW.
The sometimes shocking warnings, which all will be rotating simultaneously among all cigarette brands, are a major step in the federal government's effort to cut the smoking rate among Americans almost in half by 2020.
"If people are shocked, they should be shocked because these are the true health effects of smoking," Dr. Lawrence Deyton, director of the FDA's Center for Tobacco Products, said in an interview.
He said that his agency is projecting that after the first year of the new warnings, more than 200,000 smokers will have quit.
"Obviously, that means there are over 200,000 families that do not have to go through the horrors of the long-term effects of smoking -- the disease, the disability, the death," Deyton said.
For decades, cigarette packs have carried a health warning from the U.S. surgeon general. But critics have called it a relatively unobtrusive message that has long outlived its effectiveness.
The nine new health warnings, chosen from 36 proposed labels, may come as an eye-opener to smokers and non-smokers alike: the pictures and strong warnings will be impossible not to see. Similar warnings will be required to cover 20 percent of any cigarette advertising.
The new labels are required under provisions of the landmark law signed by President Barack Obama two years ago that for the first time gave the FDA the power to regulate tobacco products.
The warnings were hailed by public health groups as a milestone in the fight against smoking.
"The stark new warnings will provide a much-needed boost to efforts to prevent kids from smoking, encourage smokers to quit and make sure all Americans fully understand the deadly consequences of cigarette smoking," said Matthew Myers, president of the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids.
"These new warnings will tell the truth about how deadly and unglamorous cigarette smoking truly is," he said in a statement.
"The new health warnings represent an aggressive and welcome approach to reducing smoking rates," said American Heart Association CEO Nancy Brown. "We're confident that the new labels will move us closer to our goal of making the nation 100 percent smoke-free."
Tobacco accounts for 30 percent of the nation's cancer deaths and tobacco use is responsible for 443,000 deaths and about $100 billion in health care costs annually, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said in November that while the number of Americans who smoke has dropped from 42 percent in 1965 to less than 21 percent in 2004, that lower rate has not budged much despite state and local anti-smoking campaigns, restrictions on the sales and marketing of tobacco products and ordinances banning smoking in restaurants and public places.
"The bad news is … youth and adult smoking rates have been flat," Sebelius said.
The government's goal is to slash the current smoking rate to 12 percent by 2020, she said.
Since the 2009 law took effect, the Center for Tobacco Products has banned flavored cigarettes, except menthol brands; outlawed the use of "light," "mild" and "low tar" to describe cigarettes; restricted the tobacco industry's sponsorship of sports and entertainment events, as well as the distribution of free tobacco samples and free items with tobacco logos; established a national minimum age of 18 for tobacco purchases; and banned vending-machine cigarette sales except in adult-only sites such as bars.
The FDA's anti-tobacco programs are paid for by fees imposed on the tobacco industry.
http://yourlife.usatoday.com/health/story/2011/06/FDA-issues-graphic-cigarette-labels/48676990/1?csp=hf