New Required Graphics for Cigarettes

Wow, this should get your attention!  Beginning September 2012, FDA will require larger, more prominent cigarette health warnings on all cigarette packaging and advertisements in the United States. 

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC),  tobacco use is the leading cause of premature and preventable death in the US, responsible for 443,000 deaths each year and costs our economy nearly $200 billion every year in medical costs and lost productivity.

There are nine images that fill the top half of the package.  The images must appear in as equal a number of times as is possible on each brand of cigarettes and be randomly distributed in all areas of the United States in which the product is marketed.

For advertisements, the law requires that the warnings be rotated quarterly in alternating sequence for each brand of cigarettes. 

The Tobacco Control Act (passed by Congress in June 2009) also requires the following nine textual warning statements to appear on cigarette packages and in cigarette advertisements:

• WARNING: Cigarettes are addictive.
• WARNING: Tobacco smoke can harm your children.
• WARNING: Cigarettes cause fatal lung disease.
• WARNING: Cigarettes cause cancer.
• WARNING: Cigarettes cause strokes and heart disease.
• WARNING: Smoking during pregnancy can harm your baby.
• WARNING: Smoking can kill you.
• WARNING: Tobacco smoke causes fatal lung disease in nonsmokers.
• WARNING: Quitting smoking now greatly reduces serious risks to your health.

The final rule also requires that each warning include a reference to the cessation resource, 1-800-QUIT-NOW. 

The FDA estimates that this regulation will reduce the number of smokers by 213,000 in 2013, with smaller additional reductions through 2031.

A similar ruling was made for smokeless tobacco products as well.

Here are the other eight images:





We would love to hear your thoughts.  Do you think this new campaign will make a difference?