New Cigarette Warning Labels: Death, Disease, Burning Skin

The New York Times reports that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration is proposing a series of graphic new warning labels be placed on cigarette packs, with bold messages, like "Smoking Can Kill you," and "Cigarettes Cause Cancer," and horrifying pictures depicting the many ravages of smoking.

Designed to cover half of a pack’s surface area, the new labels are intended to spur smokers to quit by providing graphic reminders of tobacco’s dangers. The labels are required under a law passed last year that gave the Food and Drug Administration the power to regulate tobacco products for the first time.

The proposed labels include pictures of a man smoking from a tracheostomy tube inserted into his throat; a diseased lung; and a woman holding a baby in a smoke-filled room. The proposals stayed away from some of the more gruesome labels used in other countries, where pictures of blackened teeth and diseased mouths are common.