Four hundred forty-three thousand — that’s how many people die each year of tobacco use. This large figure has sparked an era to reduce the number of smokers, from the televised Shards-O-Glass freeze pops to the Truth campaigns.
However, some feel that it is not enough.
To get this number to drop dramatically, the Food and Drug Administration announced a new prevention plan involving images of diseased lungs, cancer patients and corpses.
If using graphic images in an attempt to save lives, the FDA needs to come at them full force. The health consequences are already known, but if the FDA can remind them each time, they could possibly get thousands to stop smoking.
The FDA is proposing 36 labels that vary from phrases saying “Cigarettes cause cancer” to displaying graphic images to express the hazards of smoking. The new labels will cover half a pack, on both front and back. Most adults who have been smoking for a majority of their life will likely look at the cover and still feel nothing about it, but young adults and new smokers will still have a chance to stop this deadly habit.
Non-smokers who breathe in secondhand smoke take in nicotine and other toxic chemicals just like smokers do. One of the label images includes a cartoon figure of a mother blowing smoke into her child’s face. Children and infants are considerably at risk for infections if their parents smoke inside the same home.
When compared to other countries’ governments, we are slightly behind in hindering the number of smokers. The law that allowed the FDA to regulate and market tobacco back in 2009 is one of the healthiest and most beneficial choices that the U.S. has made.
Many have accepted the plan, including anti-tobacco advocates who fell in love with the campaign and new warning labels. Their high praise is what keeps the plan going.
However, we know that the final decision rests with the individual. It takes a great amount of will power for a smoker to just glance over the cigarette section in a store, but by influencing them not to smoke each and every time, their decision could be made pretty easy. The goal is to save peoples lives. With that said, efforts to promote healthy living and to persuade smokers to put down that last cigarette should be widely supported.
Merina Mesa is a communications junior and may be reached at [email protected].
