Tobacco Warning Labels

In the CBS news article and video from 2011, the reader or listener, learns about nine graphic tobacco warning labels that the FDA had released. These images depicted the negative effects tobacco has on a person’s health and well-being. According to the article, among the images that appeared on cigarette packs are rotting and diseased teeth and gums, and a man with a tracheotomy smoking. Also included among the labels were as follows: the corpse of a smoker, diseased lungs, and a mother holding her baby with smoke swirling around them. Every graphic image also included phrases like "Smoking can kill you" and "Cigarettes cause cancer" to convey the dangers of tobacco, which is responsible for about 443,000 deaths in the U.S. a year. Lastly, each label includes a quit smoking hotline number. During a video/news interview, on The Early Show, Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said that these warnings are long overdue. She stated, "The labels are really to make sure that America's young people don't start …show more content…
Sebelius was quoted saying "This is a real health crisis, and something that we can do something about. We know the research shows that these graphic warning labels are effective, and it's time for America to join the rest of the world and crack down on smoking." But was her statement really true? According to polls done on www.gallup.com the smoking rate in the United States is coming down and that today fewer than one in five people are smokers. The World Health Organization said in a survey done in countries with graphic warning labels that a majority of smokers noticed the warnings and more than 25 percent said the warnings led them to consider