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Anti-Smoking Pictures Not A Long-Term Fix

Published: 2010-11-17    Views:139 reads

 

The images are shocking, as they are designed to be: teeth and gums disfigured by mouth cancer; a blackened, diseased lung; a smoker exhaling through the hole in his throat; a corpse.

It's enough to give someone pause before buying a pack of cigarettes, which is why the Food and Drug Administration will require the graphic images to cover half of a pack's front and rear, and the top 20 percent of all cigarette ads.

It's the biggest change to the government's anti-smoking camping in decades. From 1970 to 2004, the percentage of Americans who smoke declined from 40 percent to 20 percent, but that progress stalled six years ago, leading health officials to try a different tack.

When the surgeon general's report in 1964 stated that smoking causes lung cancer, it was formalizing something that the medical profession had known for years.

The report caused a drop in the percentage of Americans who smoked, but within months, the number of smokers had returned almost to pre-report levels, according to the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids.

Maybe this latest campaign will cause infrequent smokers to put away cigarettes or keep a teenager from starting, both worthwhile goals.

But as history attests, even when faced with facts about the dangers, some people choose to smoke anyway. This campaign, too, likely will be met with a sudden decline in smoking, but even these images, unfortunately, will not be enough to deter some smokers.

Despite more than a half-century of evidence - and that includes watching others suffer and die from smoking's effects - one in five Americans continues to smoke.

The long-term answer will be continued pressure on smokers by their family members and friends, who are there to support them when they do try to quit.

If you smoke, start quitting today. If you haven't smoked, don't start. And if you know someone who smokes, support them in their efforts to stop.

Source from: Times Call

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