Editorial: New FDA images are good public health policy

Images of an emaciated woman, a man with a hole in his throat and a mother blowing smoke into… Images of an emaciated woman, a man with a hole in his throat and a mother blowing smoke into her infant child’s face might be more appropriate than photos of Humphrey Bogart, James Dean or, occasionally, Megan Fox.

At least, that’s the case when the images are printed on cigarette packs.

The Food and Drug Administration announced yesterday a proposal that would require American tobacco companies to print graphic images alongside textual warnings on cigarette packages and advertisements. The FDA plans to ask for public approval of the images this coming June, and companies would have until Oct. 22, 2012, to begin using them.

Regardless of how ambitious the FDA’s plan might be, we doubt the campaign would have much effect on current smokers — asking a addict to quit is like asking Snooki or John Boehner to quit tanning.

But we do think images of a corpse with a tag on its toe, a diseased lung or a mouth full of rotting teeth might help deter people who have yet to pick up a cig.

While little scientific research exists on the topic, it’s not hard to believe that most young adults can rattle off the list of smoking’s potential side effects — emphysema, lung cancer and, oh yeah, death — but most see these ill effects as relegated to the future. “Either they won’t happen to me, or if they do I’ll be too old to care,” many young smokers seem to think.

But perhaps adding a constant, colorful reminder to their cigarette packages will make smokers think twice — one in five Canadian smokers reported reducing their cigarette use after the country required companies to place graphic warnings on them, according to Bloomberg.Or, better yet, maybe these vivid images will be enough to keep other people from smoking for their first time.

Tobacco companies are divided over the issue. Reynolds and Lorillard are in the middle of a lawsuit over government rules that would require them to add “shocking color graphics” to their packaging and advertisements, calling the measures unconstitutional, according to Bloomberg.

Meanwhile, tobacco industry giant Philip Morris issued a statement yesterday saying it supports the FDA’s attempts to regulate the industry.

In our minds, Philip Morris has it right — any proposal that might prevent even one more grandparent, friend or lover from winding up in the hospital should be worth considering.