FDA releases new tobacco warning labels that emphasize "horror factor"

Jun 23 2011

The labels, which represent the first change in these warnings in 25 years, are required under a federal law that was passed in 2009 and must be displayed on cigarette packaging and advertisements by September 2012.

The Associated Press: U.S. Releases Graphic Tobacco Warning Labels
Proposed in November under a law that put the multibillion-dollar tobacco industry under the control of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, the new labels must be on cigarette packages and in advertisements no later than September 2012. They represent the first change in cigarette warnings in 25 years (Zabarenko, 6/21).

The Boston Globe: Cigarette Warnings Getting Graphic
Cigarette packages will soon be splashed with horror-movie-style warning labels showing corpses, diseased lungs, and rotted teeth, which were among nine new images unveiled yesterday by the Food and Drug Administration. By September 2012, cigarette manufacturers will be required to place these images across the top half of every pack, with large-type warnings such as "smoking can kill you" and "cigarettes are addictive." The new images will replace the small white warning boxes that have adorned cigarette packages unchanged for more than two decades; they are required under a federal law passed in 2009 that gave the FDA regulatory authority over cigarettes. The same new warnings will appear on print ads and must take up at least 20 percent of the ad space (Kotz and Satija, 6/22).

Los Angeles Times: Tobacco Labels Crank Up Horror Factor And, Maybe, Their Impact
The tobacco labels — unveiled Tuesday by the Food and Drug Administration — definitely ratchet up the shock value. Instead of a few stern words from the surgeon general, new packages will feature graphic pictures — a guy blowing smoke through a tracheotomy hole in his neck, a corpse with an evidently unsuccessful surgical scar running down his chest, a cancerous lip, a set of diseased lungs. One of the labels features a cartoon of a distressed baby in an incubator along with the warning that "smoking during pregnancy can harm your baby" (Wollston, 6/21).

San Francisco Chronicle: Cigarette Packages Will Tell Ugly Truth In 2012
For decades, tobacco companies have relied on flashy packaging and iconic images like Joe Camel to sell their cigarettes. Now, for the first time in 25 years, the U.S. government is forcing them to overhaul the packages and blanket the labels with graphic images, like a mouth ravaged by smoking, to warn of the hazards of cigarettes (Allday, 6/22).