Beginning September 2012, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) will require larger, more prominent cigarette health warnings on all cigarette packaging and advertisements in the U.S.
The FDA has unveiled the nine graphic health warnings required to appear on every pack of cigarettes sold in the U.S. and in every cigarette advertisement. These warnings mark the first change in cigarette warnings in more than 25 years and are a significant advancement in communicating the dangers of smoking, the agency stated in a press release.
One of the FDA's nine graphich health warnings required for U.S. cigarette packages and advertising. Image courtesy of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.These warnings, which were proposed in November 2010, were required under the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act that was passed with broad bipartisan support in Congress and signed into law by President Barack Obama on June 22, 2009.
The FDA selected nine images from the originally proposed 36 after reviewing the relevant scientific literature, analyzing the results from an 18,000-person study, and considering more than 1,700 comments from various groups, including the tobacco industry, retailers, health professionals, public health and other advocacy groups, academics, state and local public health agencies, medical organizations, and individual consumers.
Each warning is accompanied by a smoking cessation phone number, 1-800-QUIT-NOW.
