The U.S. Food and Drug Administration recently proposed a rule that would require graphic warning images and descriptive text to be added to all cigarette packing to help showcase the serious health risks associated with smoking. The 13 images include a premature newborn, bloody urine associated with bladder cancer, lungs infected with COPD, a heart disease surgery scar, a neck tumor and more.
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The photos are unsettling to say the least, but they accurately portray the very real dangers of smoking cigarettes. The FDA said adding the warning photos would “represent the most significant change to cigarette labels in more than 35 years.” In a news release, FDA acting commissioner Dr. Ned (Norman) Sharpless said, “There’s a surprising number of lesser-known risks that both youth and adult smokers and nonsmokers may simply not be aware of, such as bladder cancer, diabetes and conditions that can cause blindness.”
The warnings that will accompany the images, if approved, are:
• WARNING: Tobacco smoke can harm your children.
• WARNING: Tobacco smoke causes fatal lung disease in nonsmokers.
• WARNING: Smoking causes head and neck cancer.
• WARNING: Smoking causes bladder cancer, which can lead to bloody urine.
• WARNING: Smoking during pregnancy stunts fetal growth.
• WARNING: Smoking can cause heart disease and strokes by clogging arteries.
• WARNING: Smoking causes COPD, a lung disease that can be fatal. (paired with two different images)
• WARNING: Smoking reduces blood flow, which can cause erectile dysfunction.
• WARNING: Smoking reduces blood flow to the limbs, which can require amputation.
• WARNING: Smoking causes type 2 diabetes, which raises blood sugar.
• WARNING: Smoking causes age-related macular degeneration, which can lead to blindness.
• WARNING: Smoking causes cataracts, which can lead to blindness.
Around 38 million Americans still smoke every day or some days, and nearly 7 in 10 current smokers say they want to quit completely. Benefits of quitting include a reduced risk of heart disease, stroke, respiratory symptoms, lung diseases and infertility, among many others. Quitting can be difficult, but the risks smokers are taking with each and every puff are unconscionable. If you need help quitting, here are some natural resources that might help. It’s never too late.