We Applaud EPA Mandate for Tougher, More Graphic Cigarette Warning Labels
By Joe Castner - VP Marketing
The Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act (Tobacco Control Act) requires major changes to the manufacturing, sales and marketing of tobacco products. Yesterday, the FDA announced perhaps the most public and noticeable of these changes: new graphic warning labels required for cigarette packs and advertisements. Beginning September 2012, the FDA will require larger, more prominent cigarette health warnings on all cigarette packaging and advertisements in the United States. These warnings mark the first change in cigarette warnings in more than 25 years and are a significant advancement in communicating the dangers of smoking. These large, graphic warning labels will appear on the top 50 percent of the front and back of all cigarette packs – replacing the 25 year-old warnings that are ineffective and hidden on the side of packages.
For the first time, the true dangers of cigarettes will be highlighted with vivid images and hard-hitting messages, including “WARNING: Cigarettes cause fatal lung disease” and “WARNING: Tobacco smoke causes fatal lung disease in nonsmokers.” To view the entire FDA release, click here.
We applaud this move by the FDA. These types of warnings have been deployed in Europe for some time, and it’s about time we followed suit. As IAQ experts, we know that cigarette smoke, despite all of the known health risks and the combined efforts of the FDA and organizations like the American Lung Association to make people aware of those risks, is still the number one cause of indoor particulate pollution.
More than likely, these graphic images will have little effect on adults who currently smoke. They will bother children and young adults, though, which is really where these messages are intended. If one child chooses not to smoke because of these new warnings, then they were worth it. Also, children who see these warnings on their parent’s cigarettes may engage their parents in discussions about the dangers of cigarette smoking, and why, despite the obvious healthy risks, they continue to smoke. Perhaps these painful parent/child discussions may lead parents to put forth more effort in their attempts to stop smoking. While these new warning labels may not lead to huge decreases in the numbers of smokers, I believe that they will cause children and young adults to pause before they light up…and that’s a step in the right direction.
Comments
