The government announced on Wednesday that starting in 2012, cigarette packs must display large images and warnings designed to discourage people from smoking.
The new rule is part of a proposal by the Food and Drug Administration within the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act. Specifically, it stipulates that “nine new larger and more noticeable textual warning statements and color graphic images depicting the negative health consequences of smoking appear on cigarette packages and in cigarette advertisements.”
Under the rule, the public will have a chance to comment on 36 proposed graphics through January 9, 2011. The FDA will then select the final nine images and textual warnings by late June. The graphics include pictures of a man smoking through a tracheotomy tube, a mother holding an infant inside a smoke-filled room, and a diseased lung.
(Click here to see photos of some of the proposed images)
The new warnings will be required to encapsulate up to half the cover of the pack.
“Every day, almost 4,000 youth try a cigarette for the first time and 1,000 youth become regular, daily smokers,” said HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius in a statement on Wednesday. “Today marks an important milestone in protecting our children and the health of the American public.”
By October 22, 2012, manufacturers will be prohibited from distributing cigarettes in packs that fail to don the new images and warnings.
The announcement was met with praise by some lawmakers, including Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa), who chairs a key committee on health.
“These graphic warnings will ensure that Americans are confronted with the brutal realities of tobacco use every time they pick up a cigarette package,” Harkin said. “These health warnings will make a dramatic difference in the number of young people who pick up cigarettes. Ultimately, these efforts will save lives and drive down the amount of money the government spends on health care costs treating preventable diseases.”