http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/11/health/policy/11tobacco.html

There are a few articles on this topic now, but this one shows more pictures then the rest. As the article states, there are a few proposed labels that are going to try and help smokers see the hazards of smoking. The smoker will get the pack of cigarettes and there will be a label of a dead guy that covers half of the box (or some other depressing label) and this should make them see that smoking is bad. Though I don't think this is a bad idea, I really don't think that this is going to make smokers stop as much as the F.D.A thinks it will. There is always the "it will never happen to me" mentality, and with all of the anti-smoking ads and commercials out there already, I really don't see how this is going to help smokers quit. It could be- They are now looking at the ad when they pull out a cigarette, and that might discourage the smoker to smoke the cigarette. I don't know though. It seems like a big stretch.

I believe this will help people that want to start smoking not make that final step, but I don't think this will help people that are already addicted be able to stop smoking.

thoughts?

i doubt it will help any more then the old warning labels

As someone who is predisposed to asthma, I'd love to see something take another cut out of inconsiderate smokers (NOTE: I mean literally inconsiderate smokers that blow smoke in crowded places and the like, not smokers in general), but all this is going to do is make all smokers really angry.

I can't see it working. Cigarette packs have had increasingly dire warnings for as long as I can remember, but people become inured to it; combined with the tendency to assume "it'll only happen to other people" and "being old is a lifetime away" I doubt it will accomplish much other than to worry existing smokers, probably making them smoke more as a result. I'm inclined to think that the warnings, bans and so on are counterproductive overall since for many people this just adds to the overall "coolness". I don't dispute that some information about the adverse health effects is a good thing, but overdoing it just backfires, especially when some of the campaigns demonstrably overstate their case and undermine the credibility of the actual health concerns.

I know what you mean by inconsiderate smokers. Some just don't care where they are or who they are with when they wip out a stogie. I agree to. I don't see how this can really have a positive affect except people wanting to try smoking to not start.

We already have similar pictures on the back of cigarette packs in the U.K.

I smoke cigarettes occasionally, but I don't really notice the images. Even if they were bigger and covered the whole front of the pack, I doubt they'd make any difference to me.

And could making them too prominent or shocking make them 'cool' and even more popular with some people?

I also think that if they do it to cigarettes, then they should do it for other things.

Fatty food packs should show the effects of heart disease, and bottles of booze ought to have a nice big photograph of a frazzled liver on the front!

I'm an ex smoker, and I don't see how that would help in the slightest. I'd rather tobacco get banned entirely, but even that isn't feasible, there's too much money in it.

I will just open it and put it in my cigarette case, like I always do. :shrug:

I'm not a smoker, but I don't think this will help. The only way I see a smoker quitting is through sheer force of will.

I could see how people will think they are cooler (especially younger kids) when they wip out the pack in front of their friends. It will give off a "I don't care what the man says. I'm going to do it anyway," vibe.

And I can see every health organization banning together to make depressing labels on every item that can cause any sort of health problem. Even a tickle me elmo might have a label saying "Warning, can cause nightmares for some children."

Well hey, big bros. watching out for us, ya know. :rolleyes:

Personally I think they're just trying to wittle down the support for smoking until they can eventually ban it all together. If smoking is illegal its just one more thing they can arrest and charge people for. The government knows one thing above all else and that is greed. Plus if you die young due to complications from smoking they can no longer make any money off of you. Trust in one thing, if the government is pushing anything it will benefit them.

It honestly doesn't matter to me and it will be good for my health, I have an ear condition that boasts over an 80 percent increase in recurring tumors withing the ear if frequently exposed to cigarette smoke.

I have a friend who knows all the hazards of smoking, and that friends father had a heart attack due to smoking

And yet this friend continues smoking. I highly doubt that this friend would change their behaviors simply because of a picture that is on a carton of cigarettes.

A person isn't likely to change their behavior unless they want to change. This might help in someones decision to quit but overall if someone wants to smoke they will smoke despite the warnings.

Just force every cigarette company to change the name of their cigarettes to something unpleasant.


"I'd like to buy some Kiddie Fiddler Cigarettes, please."


Or something embarassing, I suppose.

"Mate, could I borrow some lacy underwear from you?"

hmy: Well then for your sake I hope something works!

Is Pedobear is the spokesman for the brand? :laugh:

Terrible. When I was a smoker nothing of this sort would phase me. It's like when I was in school and they gave us uneducated and misinformed presentations on drugs.

I wished smoking didn't exist, I hate it so much but pictures don't affect anyone at all..

Do they really think this will do anything but scare children? Smokers all know what might happen and they don't care.

As if packs costing almost 10$ not enough to stop people from smoking as it is.

This might stop a couple of people, but not many at all. Smokers will still smoke, non-smokers won't even pick up a cigarette.

I don't think this will make anyone stop smoking, maybe just increase the market for plastic or metal cigarette cases.
EDIT @ TESFanner: looking back at those anti drug and alcohol classes in elementary school (D.A.R.E. as we know it) I realize just how much we were lied too. It's counter-productive when you think about it :nope:

most smokers know that smoking is bad and probably will kill them if they never stop smoking, even teens who start smoking because of peer pressure know smoking is bad. the issue with smoking is not ignorance but apathy.

and besides the best way to quit, undesputedly, is cold turkey. patches and gums still have nicotine so its only replacing the habit but doesn't get rid of the urge, some people replace smoking with somthing like chewing sunflower seeds or distract them selves with something, thats almost cold turkey but they are still replacing the urge to smoke with something else.

We ones got to see, in class, the lungs of a smoker and compared it to the lungs of a person who didn't smoke when he was alive. That didn't stop half from the class from starting smoking. So no, I don't think that will help. Increasing the price of smokes by tripple might however.

The best way for some people to quit is "cold turkey": but not all. "One size fits all" solutions are always doomed to failure; some people do find nicotine-replacement therapies actually work better and are easier to taper off, though I don't doubt that others simply move their addiction (for values of "addiction") onto something else instead.