Tuesday, January 31, 2012

Graphic cigarette labels, will they work?

The FDA said that it will begin requiring tobacco marketers to cover the top half of cigarette boxes and 20% of tobacco advertisements with nine graphic images.  This is the biggest anti-tobacco effort since 1965.  The goal is to stop the nation's 43 million smokers from smoking and to prevent others, especially teens from starting.  "These labels are frank, honest and powerful depictions of the health risks of smoking," said Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius.  "With these warnings, every person who picks up a pack of cigarettes is going to know exactly what risk they're taking."  Cigarette consumption has remained at about 21% since 2003.  In 2009, 23.5% of men and 17.9% of women smoke.  In 2009, 25.2% of twelfth graders smoked.  Not everyone thinks that the labels will work.  Some people believe that the labels will affect children more than adults, others are indifferent and others think that it won't make a difference at all, that it is in fact discrimination.  There are some good statistics in this article, I definitely think that I will use this article as a source in my paper.

Strauss, G. (2011, June 22). Graphic cigarette labels, will they work. USA Today. Retrieved from
          http://yourlife.usatoday.com/health/story/2011/06/FDA-issues-graphic-cigarette-
          labels/48676990/1

1 comment:

  1. This is the biggest anti-tobacco buy cigarette effort since 1965. The goal is to stop the nation's 43 million smokers from smoking and to prevent others, especially teens from starting.

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