In 2012, all cigarette manufacturers will be required by the Food and Drug Administration to label their cartons with graphic health warnings. The proposed labels, revealed last Wednesday, feature images of a dead corpse’s feet and a mother blowing smoke onto her child, among 34 other possible photos.

For a 30-year smoker, the FDA’s new graphic health warnings for cigarettes will most likely be another unsuccessful attempt to encourage quitting, another way of scolding smokers and something that will soon go unnoticed following purchases of cigarette carton after cigarette carton.

We know these labels will not necessarily influence seasoned smokers or cause them to quit smoking once and for all. Still, the graphics may at the very least make smokers think twice about their dangerous habit and their health.

More importantly, these labels may have a more profound influence on the nation’s youth. About 20 percent of high school students are smokers, according to a New York Times article from last week.

For the impressionable middle school student offered a cigarette by the “cool kids,” the gruesome photo of his or her probable future as a smoker could be the deciding factor in the choice.

One glance at the corpse’s feet or the photo of a man with a hole in his neck from smoking-induced larynx cancer could influence a child or a teenager to say “no” to a cigarette offer.

According to the New York Times, close to 1,000 youth become regular smokers every day, and 4,000 try a cigarette for the first time. If the labels can deter those 4,000 children and teenagers, or even just a handful of them, from trying, then the label is worth it.

It’s wishful thinking to try and convince every smoker to quit, and the FDA doesn’t currently have the power to ban cigarettes, but if graphic labels can turn away potential smokers or give current smokers a reason to think twice, then why wouldn’t we plaster boxes with graphic, realistic images?

The opposition may argue that using the labels to scare people isn’t doing anything, and there’s no point in going to the level of graphic photos without banning cigarettes once and for all. Or there’s the reasoning that there are better ways to target smokers, and why bother trying to convince people to turn away from something they enjoy — something considered normal in today’s society?

The New York Times article quotes Anthony Hemsley, vice president of Commonwealth Brands and opponent of the new labels, saying the labels “stigmatize smokers and de-normalize smoking.”

And in a society where about 46 million Americans are smokers, according to that same New York Times article, smoking has been recognized as normal. But should it be?

According to the surgeon general’s warning on a cigarette carton, “Smoking Causes Lung Cancer, Heart Disease, Emphysema And May Complicate Pregnancy.” These real and serious health side effects presented to smokers should not be acknowledged as normal or acceptable.

The FDA’s new labels are worth the effort. There are more benefits than negatives in at least attempting to cause change in the population of smokers. Why not try?

If we can stop some people from becoming smokers, then by all means, we should.

Source: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/11/health/policy/11tobacco.html?_r=2&scp=1&sq=cigarette+labels&st=cse