Smokers have mixed reaction to cigarette label debut

Rotten teeth and cancer of the mouth, a man smoking through a tracheotomy hole in his neck, the top half of a cadaver after an autopsy. Would those images be enough to stop you from smoking? The Food and Drug Administration believes so. The FDA on Tuesday unveiled nine new graphic health warnings, one of which will appear on every pack of cigarettes sold in the United States and in every cigarette advertisement by September 2012.
The warnings represent the most significant change to cigarette labels in more than 25 years.
The images on the packs are intended to convey the danger of smoking, which is responsible for about 443,000 deaths a year in the United States. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, smoking costs our economy nearly $200 billion every year in medical costs and lost productivity.
The new labels will mean a pack-a-day smoker will see graphic warnings on the dangers of cigarettes more than 7,000 times a year. And every pack will contain a smoking cessation phone number, 1-800-QUIT-NOW, to call for help quitting smoking.
The FDA expects about 213,000 smokers will quit in the first year.
Meanwhile, the four biggest tobacco companies are threatening legal action. They say the rule infringes on their property and free-speech rights.
The bold measure, FDA officials say, will help prevent children from smoking, encourage adults who do to quit and ensure every American understands the dangers of smoking.
But some local smokers expect the warning to have little impact on their habit.
"The whole idea is OK, but it's not going to matter to people who have been smoking for a long time, like me," said 50-year-old Dena Kulp of Manheim.
Kulp, a receptionist at a manufacturing plant, began smoking when she was 15 years old.
"When I was growing up there wasn't much education about the effects of smoking, but my mom tried to discourage me from doing it," Kulp said.
Her mother, Kulp said, was 68 when she died of lung cancer.
Kulp thinks the FDA campaign might work for kids, but not for adults.
"I think the pictures and the warnings will freak them out," she said. "But for me, I don't think the labels will make me quit. I've tried many things but nothing has worked so far."
The FDA selected the images after analyzing the results from an 18,000-person study and considering more than 1,700 comments from diverse groups, including the tobacco industry, retailers, health professionals and individual consumers.
Is the makeover of the cigarette packs productive or simply gross?
Some say the new look falls on the grisly side.
"Those images really shocked me," said 42-year-old Wanda Gonzalez of Manor Township, a customer service representative.
"You don't really think about the dangers and the ugliness until you actually see it," she said.
Gonzalez said it is right for the government to force the labels on the cigarette companies.
"It has to be mandatory. The cigarette companies are not going to talk bad about themselves," she said.
Sandy Davido, 32, said the messages on the labels won't tell her anything she doesn't already know.
"I know smoking is a bad thing," the Lancaster resident said. "But we choose to ignore it."
Others say the images are somewhat educational, showing smoke drifting toward a young child's face with a warning that tobacco smoke can harm your children.
Lancaster business owner Porfirio Gonzalez, 53, said it's all about the kids.
"If this is going to make us stop and think and teach the little ones to stay away from smoking then that is all that matters," he said.
However, 21-year-old Rob McKee believes the warning messages will not prevent young people from smoking.
"It's not going to happen. Teens are not going to look at the packs. If they want to smoke they are going to do it regardless of the warnings," said McKee, a supermarket clerk.
Store manager Denise Dengler, 47, said she is not going to quit just because of a picture on the package.
"This is not a good idea. It will not make any difference," she said.
Like McKee, she doesn't think it has the possibility of stopping new people from trying it.
"Besides, this whole thing could drive up the price of cigarettes," she said.
The new warnings, which were proposed in November 2010, were required under the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act, which was passed with broad bipartisan support in Congress and signed into law by President Barack Obama in 2009.