New tobacco warning labels make U.S. less disgusting

Smoking can kill you. Cigarettes are addictive. Tobacco smoke can harm your children. Cigarettes cause fatal lung disease. Quitting smoking now greatly reduces serious risks to your health. These are just some of the health warnings the FDA has proposed to occupy the top half of the front and rear panels of cigarette packages, along with graphic images of the harmful effects of smoking – images like a cigarette being injected into an arm, like an intravenous drug. It is a step in the right direction for ridding the world of the disgusting, dangerous habit.

Most smokers understand that there are health risks involved with smoking. Unfortunately, many don't realize the extent of those health risks. For example, most smokers know that smoking causes respiratory problems, but many don't realize that it can also cause impotence and stroke.

Another mistake smokers make is thinking those things will never happen to them. They think that only the other smokers are going to get cancer and die. It's important to make sure that everyone knows that the risks are very real, and could very likely happen to any and every smoker.

With the proposed new labels, anytime a smoker picks up his pack of cigarettes, a graphic reminder of just how dangerous they really are is right there in his face. Images of wrinkled, yellow fingers holding a cigarette, rotting yellow teeth, or blackened, festering flesh that is rotting from disease would certainly encourage me to quit. Though it does not produce immediate results – not many people would see that and quit instantly – it does give smokers a constant reminder of the dangers. With that kind of encouragement, many will eventually kick the habit for good.

Canada has already adopted labels of this sort. In a phone survey conducted in Canada, one-fifth of the participants reported cutting back on their smoking as a result of the labels. Those who reported having greater negative emotions to the labels, such as fear or disgust, were more likely to quit smoking.

As we are doing more to discourage smoking, we are seeing more and more positive results. According to a Gallup poll, 41 percent of poll participants in America reported smoking in 1944. In 2010, that number is down to 20 percent. I'm certain we can attribute those numbers to advertising. In the 1940s, 1950s and 1960s, smoking was considered sexy. There were advertisements of beautiful movie stars smoking. Smoking was common in popular films. It was cool; it was sexy; and it was everywhere.

Since the advertisements have gone from sexy to disgusting, the risk factors are being displayed more prevalently, and smoking has been banned in most restaurants and bars, the popularity of smoking has been on the decline.

Hopefully the new warning labels will encourage a further decline in the numbers. More than that, I hope to see more extreme measures taken to discourage the desire to smoke. Not only do we need to make it obvious that it is bad for your health, but we also need to make it harder on the bank account.

Smoking is already a fairly expensive habit, which is a deterring factor for many people. If tobacco taxes were greatly increased, it would make it more difficult for people to afford to continue the habit, therefore encouraging them to quit. Not only that, but it would, at least temporarily, increase revenue for the state and/or national governments.

As more is done to discourage smoking, and more people are quitting or choosing never to start smoking, the number of people polluting our air and blowing their disgusting smoke in our faces is significantly decreasing. I sincerely hope that in my lifetime I will see that number drop to zero. Maybe then I can breathe easy.