There soon may be bolder health warnings on cigarette
packages and advertisements if the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
(HHS) gets its way.
In unveiling the new comprehensive tobacco control strategy,
officials said the new warnings on cigarettes and in cigarette ads will be the
most significant change in more than 25 years.
Tobacco use is the leading cause of premature and
preventable death in the United States -- responsible for 443,000 deaths each
year. Thirty percent of all cancer
deaths are due to tobacco. Each day
1,200 lives of current and former smokers are lost prematurely due to
tobacco-related diseases.
"Every day, almost 4,000 youth try a cigarette for the first
time and 1,000 youth become regular, daily smokers," said HHS Secretary
Kathleen Sebelius. "Today marks an important milestone in protecting our children
and the health of the American public."
New warnings
The strategy includes a proposal issued by the Food and Drug
Administration (FDA) titled "Required Warnings for Cigarette Packages and
Advertisements." Specifically, it details a requirement of the Family Smoking
Prevention and Tobacco Control Act that nine new larger and more noticeable
textual warning statements and color graphic images depicting the negative
health consequences of smoking appear on cigarette packages and in cigarette
advertisements.
The public has an opportunity to comment on 36 proposed
images through January 9, 2011. By June 22, 2011, FDA will select the final
nine graphic and textual warning statements after it reviews the relevant
scientific literature, the public comments, and results from an 18,000-person
study.
Restricting sales
Implementation of the final rule (September 22, 2012) will
ultimately prohibit companies from manufacturing cigarettes without new graphic
health warnings on their packages for sale or distribution in the United
States. In addition, manufacturers,
importers, distributors and retailers will no longer be allowed to advertise
cigarettes without the new graphic health warnings in the United States.
By October 22, 2012, manufacturers will no longer be able to
distribute cigarettes for sale in the United States that do not display the new
graphic health warnings.
"Today, FDA takes a crucial step toward reducing the
tremendous toll of illness and death caused by tobacco use by proposing to
dramatically change how cigarette packages and advertising look in this
country," said FDA Commissioner Margaret A. Hamburg, M.D. "When the rule takes
effect, the health consequences of smoking will be obvious every time someone
picks up a pack of cigarettes. This is a concrete example of how FDA's new
responsibilities for tobacco product regulation can benefit the public's
health."
Broad strategy
The FDA action is part of a broad department-wide strategy
that was announced by Assistant Secretary for Health Howard K. Koh, M.D.,
MPH. While progress has been made,
smoking remains particularly high with low-income and within certain
racial/ethnic groups and in certain populations, including people with mental
illnesses and substance abuse disorders. "Ending the Tobacco Epidemic: A Tobacco Control Strategic Action Plan"
outlines specific, evidence-based actions that will help create a society free
of tobacco-related death and disease, according to HHS.
"We are at an unprecedented time in our nation's history to protect the public's health from tobacco use, the leading cause of preventable, premature death in the United States," said Dr. Koh. "It will take renewed commitment from every sector of society to end the tobacco epidemic."
