The Food and Drug Administration released nine gruesome new warning labels for cigarette packs. Those working to stamp out the habit of smoking welcome the labels as one more tool in their fight. The new cigarette packs are nothing short of a reality horror show, displaying images such as a diseased lung and a smoker wearing an oxygen mask.
President Obama in 2009 signed the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act, giving the FDA the authority to require the labels.
It had been 25 years since the warning labels were last strengthened. In 2000 Canada became the first country to pass a law requiring tobacco companies to affix warnings that included gruesome photographs depicting the results of smoking-related diseases.
Burke County business owners and health professionals are split about whether new graphic cigarette warning labels are appropriate, but they agree the pictures won’t deter many current users from the habit.
This month, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) published the nine labels, which are much larger than current warnings. Chad Earp, owner of the Tobacco Barn in Morganton, thinks the new labeling will have little to no effect on smokers.
“People know that smoking isn’t good for you, yet they continue to smoke. “If people want to smoke they should be able to,” Stilwell said. “I don’t smoke, my family doesn’t smoke, but I don’t think people should be constantly told how bad it is. Some health-care professionals feel the labeling could help reduce tobacco use.
“My hope is that it will deter young people from starting to smoke.”
Joseph Rodriguez, oncology manager at Grace Hospital, agreed that young people would be the target audience affected most by these new labels.
Among other things, the fund financed anti-smoking campaigns aimed at young people and tobacco-cessation funding around the state. The FDA released a statement on its website addressing why it chose these labels. Both Earp and Stillwell wondered whether the government considered what it will lose in tax revenue if many people decide to quit smoking because of the labeling.
