Coming soon: graphic cigarette labels that go far beyond a simple warning:
Imagine gruesome color photographs showing a mouth riddled with cancer, lungs blackened, a foot rotten with gangrene. If the images sound sickening, well, that’s the point.
Under a law signed by President Obama on June 22—the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act—tobacco companies will be required to cover 50 percent of the front and rear panels of cigarette packages with color graphics showing what happens when you smoke and bold, specific labels saying such things as:
“WARNING: Cigarettes cause fatal lung disease.”
“WARNING: Tobacco smoke can harm your children.”
“WARNING: Smoking can kill you.”
These sorts of graphic warnings are common the world over. About time we get them in the USA.