Halloween may already be over, but the Health and Human Services Department (HHS) hasn’t given up on scaring smokers quite yet. Describing it as “the most significant change in more than 25 years,” the HHS revealed yesterday new, larger, more graphic warning labels that will be required on cigarette packages and ads. The pictures will include images of a dead body in a morgue, a man having a heart attack, and a lung bisected with a surgical scar.
Upon unveiling the new warning labels, HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said, "Today marks an important milestone in protecting our children and the health of the American public.”
But ACSH's Dr. Elizabeth Whelan is not so sure this new tactic will be so successful. "Many other countries around the world have put graphic images of the health consequences of smoking on cigarette packs — but to my knowledge there is no evidence that these images deter addicted smokers. We hope that they might make first time smokers think twice about lighting up.”
