The FDA has unveiled the nine new warnings to cover 50% of all cigarette packs sold in the US (beginning September, 2012) below and at:
Cigarette Health Warnings
As the one who spearheaded the campaign to amend the FSPTCA (in the US Senate HELP Committee in 2007) to require color graphic warnings, I think these new cigarette pack warnings are a very good start. But they only warn about hazards of smoking, which most smokers already know. To be more helpful, the FDA should also require warnings to inform smokers that all cigarettes are similarly hazardous, that smokefree alternatives are far less hazardous than cigarettes, and that most exsmokers quit cold turkey after multiple attempts.
Senator Mike Enzi deserves credit for amending the tobacco Control Act (to require color graphics along with the text warnings) despite ironic and vehement opposition from CTFK, ACS, AHA, ALA, which insisted upon text only warnings (because that was the deal they agreed to with Philip Morris in 2004).
The new cigarette warnings should encourage more smokers to quit, discourage smokers from smoking near other people, and encourage smokers to reduce their health risks by switching to e-cigarettes and other smokefree
tobacco/nicotine alternatives. One warning correctly informs that smoking causes mouth cancer, which can help inform smokers that cigarettes pose far greater risks for mouth cancer than does smokeless tobacco use.
