New Explicit Labeling For Cigarettes

Don't know who may or may not smoke here....hopefully no one is offended by this conversation.

Check out the new labeling for cigarettes next year - very graphic it seems.

The federal government has unveiled nine graphic images that must appear on all cigarette packs and advertisements by next year—part of a new strategy to convey the dangers of smoking. The images, released Tuesday, include a corpse, a man smoking through a tracheotomy hole in his throat, cancer-riddled lungs, and rotting teeth and gums. Messages like "Warning: Smoking can kill you" and "Warning: Cigarettes cause cancer" are also stamped on the images. Cigarette makers who don't comply with the new requirement by October 2012 will not be allowed to sell their brands in the United States. The images must cover 50 percent of the front and backside of cigarette packs, as well as the top 20 percent of cigarettes advertisements. Smoking causes 443,000 deaths in the U.S. each year; the new warnings are expected to help 213,000 Americans kick the habit by 2013, the Associated Press reports. "These labels are frank, honest, and powerful depictions of the health risks of smoking," Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said in a statement to the press.

The corpse is a little graphic for me.

I've never been a smoker so I can only imagine how hard it is to stop once you've smoked for so long. I do sympathize, but if it will add some years to your life and make you feel so much better, why wouldn't one want to stop smoking?

This new ad campaign is "in your face," and I guess they are hoping it will hit home how bad smoking is for you. Although, I'm sure smokers already know that.

I don't smoke, but I feel this ad campaign is a waste of money. Those who smoke are not going to stop just because they saw some scary (truthful though) ad. I have an aunt who has severe asthma, and is missing a part of 1 lung, and she still smokes! So if their own health isn't going to stop them, no photo or ad is. They know what smoking does to them. Most of my family smokes, and I wish they wouldn't because I worry about their health especially my mother, but not much I can do to stop it. I'm thankful that my brother pretty much has stopped and he smoked since the time he was like 10 years old. His wife still smokes though which doesn't really help his trying not to. He's done well though, think he quit about a year ago. So many of them also realize the great amount of money the are basically just lighting on fire each month, and that hasn't made them stop either. I know it's an addiction and I do understand that, but with help I think any addiction can be overcome, but scary ads aren't going to do it.

It has become mandatory for me to stop smoking because of finances. I just can't afford it anymore, and I sure know it isn't good for my health.

I agree that any kind of labeling won't deter people who smoke. It wouldn't me, to be honest.

Anyone have any good ideas how to cold turkey?

Eat cupcakes instead.

No, seriously, no advice and I know it must be hard even if it's necessary!

Have you been cutting down then?

Smoke pot instead LOL.. JK..

Eat more cookies Really I don't know, I do know it's an oral habit, and usually one oral habit has to be replaced with another. Which is why so many who stop smoking gain weight because they are eating more just have something in their mouths.

Yes, indeed, lots of people gain weight when they quit.

Not cutting down. I just need to bite the bullet and try to do it. Seems like I'm always going through something though, and that makes it even more difficult to try.

I used to smoke. I tried many times to quit but always had some excuse for giving in to it. I just enjoyed it too much. People can't quit until they're ready. After I had my accident, I spent a lot of time in the hospital and rehab and gave up smoking. It wasn't my choice, I just wasn't able to smoke. But when I got out, I was staying with a friend until I found an apartment that was accessible for me, and I found a pack of cigarettes in the kitchen drawer. I had one and that was all it took. The next thing I knew I was buying them and I was hooked all over again. I continued to smoke for another 10 years. It was after I was married again and had Josh when I gave it up. Nate didn't smoke and neither did any of his family. When Josh was a baby he developed some kind of lung ailment and I knew it was due to my smoking. So I quit just like that. I bought the patch, used it for 3 weeks and never had a cigarette the entire time and haven't had one since. I was lucky because I never had to be exposed to any cigarette smoke after that. No one in my family smoked either. The place I worked at had banned any smoking from the building. And eventually it was banned altogether. There was no smoking allowed on the property. You couldn't even smoke in your car. Smoking was no longer allowed in stores or restaurants so it made it much easier. When I see how much the price has gone up, I am so happy that I quit when I did. I honestly don't know how people can afford it these days.


I don't think a health warning or picture or whatever the campaign is all about, on the pack of cigarettes is going to make a bit of difference to a smoker if they are not ready or willing to quit. There have been a health warnings on cigarettes for years. Nobody ever pays any attention to them. I've actually seen people joke about them. It's not easy to quit. It is very addicting. Anyone who has never smoked before may not understand just how tough it is. I can remember having crying fits and being a nervous wreck during times that I've tried to quit. I can remember running out and going through the ashtrays for a butt that might have a little tobacco left in it. I even remember after my accident when I was in the intensive care unit on morphine, dreaming about cigarettes. I don't know if it was a dream or if I was just hallucinating but it seemed very real and I remember it to this day. I thought I had my purse on the bed with me under the covers with cigarettes in it and an ash tray under my pillow. I remember hearing the nurses say that they were going to move me to another room and I was scared to death that they would find the ashtray. I had just had major surgery, where they split me up the middle and replaced some of my spine with a piece of rib and a piece of my hip then added metal rods and screws to hold everything in place. I wasn't moving a muscle, but my brain was saying otherwise. This was almost 2 weeks after my accident and I hadn't been smoking that whole time so I always thought that it was my mind going through withdrawals. It was kind of good because by the time I was able to get up and around again, I was over it and didn't crave cigarettes anymore. Unfortunately, I faltered the first time it became available. But today I am smoke free and would never think of going back to it. It's been over 14 years now and there's nothing that would make me start smoking again.