Graphic Cigarette Ads Are Working To Deter Smoking in Teens

By Dr. Dee Carter





In Britain, graphic and direct health warnings on cigarette packets has deterred  33 percent of teenagers from picking up the habit of smoking. Australia was the first country in the world to  have cigarette packs covered in warnings.  Here in the U.S. some of the nation's largest tobacco companies are suing the government to block these types of warnings from appearing on cigarette packs. The government had decided to drop this legal fight and asked the Food and Drug Administration to redo the nine graphic warning labels they proposed.  These labels were to included images of diseased lungs and a man exhaling cigarette smoke through a tracheotomy hole in his throat.
In the U.S. lung cancer is the leading cause of death in men and women.  Ninety percent of smokers begin before the age of 21. Each day 3,600 youth under the age of 18 smoke their first cigarette and the lungs of a teenager who smokes will not develop fully; putting them at a higher risk for lung disease.

Although our cigarette labels are not as harsh as those in other countries, our television and billboard ads have been.  Surveys suggest that this anti-smoking campaign has encouraged smokers to quit and distracted the teen non smoker from starting this addictive habit.

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