Cigarette packs to feature visceral warnings

When smokers pick up a pack of cigarettes next fall, they may be shocked to see images of corpses and cancerous body parts in an effort government agencies are hoping will help them to kick their addiction.

The usual labels with small warnings of the potential risks of smoking — including harming unborn children or causing cancer — will be super-sized with graphic warnings, according to the Food and Drug Administration.

The FDA announced last month new, larger warning labels will be on packs of cigarettes sold in the U.S., starting in September 2012. The new mandatory labels will have visual warnings showing potential outcomes of smoking, such as photos of cancer victims, diseased lungs, mouth cancer and tracheotomies.

Next fall’s revamped warnings mark the first change in content in warning labels in 25 years.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found health warnings on cigarette packs prompted smokers to think about quitting and prominent, pictorial warnings are most effective in communicating the health risks of smoking.

Though the FDA is hoping the new labels will hit a nerve with smokers and help them fully understand the potential consequences of their actions, Linda Walston, manager of Tobacco Road Outlet on North Herritage Street, said they probably won’t see much of an impact.

“I don’t know if it will make a big world of difference, as far as people smoking,” Walston said. “It’s just one more thing to give people conversation about.”

Walston said people who smoke already know all the risks, but other potentially harmful products should deserve the same treatment.

“Are they going to put crashed cars on beer bottles, headless people where some drunk man ran into somebody and chopped their head off because they were drunk driving?” Walston asked. “If they’re allowed to do something like that, then somewhere down the line they ought to put crashed automobiles on beer bottles.”

Locals may need the extra push to quit the habit, with 58.8 percent of high school students having smoked in 2007, according to that year’s Lenoir County Health Assessment. The study also found 16.3 percent of Lenoir County mothers smoked while pregnant from 2002-2006, about 4 percent higher than the state average.

If the pictures on the packs aren’t enough to prompt people to quit, Constance Hengel, director of community programming and development at Lenoir Memorial Hospital, said the hospital offers four methods to assist in stopping the habit.

Hengel said those who smoke also risk their heart health, with heart disease being the biggest killer of Lenoir County residents.

“Lenoir Memorial offers a number of tobacco cessation programs,” Hengel said. “Smoking is the No. 1 preventable risk factor for heart disease, and we hope to help persons who are ready to quit.”