The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is proposing a series of new, graphic warnings to be placed on cigarette packages.
The FDA’s proposal, part of a new strategic action plan announced by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, combines efforts to help smokers quit and prevent children from starting.
Thirty-six proposed images and warning statements were put forward by the FDA today, and the agency is soliciting public comments through January 9, 2011 to help whittle the choices down to nine. The proposed rule requires that cigarette manufacturers to display the new graphics and warning statements on their packages beginning October 22, 2012.
“Today, FDA takes a crucial step toward reducing the tremendous toll of illness and death caused by tobacco use by proposing to dramatically change how cigarette packages and advertising look in this country. When the rule takes effect, the health consequences of smoking will be obvious every time someone picks up a pack of cigarettes,” said FDA Commissioner Margaret A. Hamburg, M.D. in a statement posted online. “This is a concrete example of how FDA’s new responsibilities for tobacco product regulation can benefit the public’s health.”
The list of proposed health warnings include the following:
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.
HHS wants to increase funding to states to help combat smoking, although it admits that few states meet the “best practices” criteria established by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Examples of stop-smoking programs include smoke-free policies, increased cigarette taxes, and reducing exposure to young people, such as in movies geared to that audience. HHS cites 24 states, plus D.C. and Puerto Rico, that have enacted smoke-free laws, prohibiting smoking in restaurants, bars, workplaces, and other public places.
The agency’s strategic plan, which HHS worked on for more than a year with other federal agencies, did not include a proposed budget, nor did it specify which programs would require additional funding.
According to the CDC, $260 million is spent every day in the U.S. in direct medical costs related to smoking, and 1,200 current and former smokers die prematurely every day from tobacco-related diseases.
