WHO: Get more graphic with smokers
May 29, 2009 By BRADLEY S. KLAPPER , Associated Press Writer(AP) -- Cigarette packages should include images of sickness and suffering caused by tobacco, along with written warnings, the World Health Organization said Friday.
The U.N. agency urged governments to make people more aware of the health consequences of smoking. It said most countries still do not warn consumers of the risks on packages of cigarettes, cigars and other tobacco.
"Health warnings on tobacco packages are a simple, cheap and effective strategy that can vastly reduce tobacco use and save lives," said Dr. Ala Alwan, a senior WHO official. "Warnings that include images of the harm that tobacco causes are particularly effective at communicating risk and motivating behavioral changes, such as quitting or reducing tobacco consumption."
Tobacco is the leading cause of preventable death, killing more than 5 million people worldwide each year. WHO says it is the only legal consumer product that kills when used exactly as intended by the manufacturer.
Warning pictures on cigarette and other tobacco packs have helped smokers kick the habit and prevented others from becoming addicted, WHO said. It cited studies of such campaigns in Brazil, Canada, Singapore and Thailand, and said they revealed "remarkably consistent findings."
But only a tenth of the world's population lives in countries requiring warning pictures, WHO said. It said governments needed to address that shortcoming as ignorance still prevails on the dangers of smoking.
For example, a study in China showed that barely a third of smokers knew they were at higher risk of heart disease and only 17 percent knew that smoking causes strokes, the agency said. In Syria, just a fraction of university students knew that cardiovascular disease was a hazard of cigarette or water pipe smoking.
WHO has taken an increasingly strong stance against tobacco in recent years. It sponsored a 2003 treaty to control tobacco use and has urged a world ban on smoking in indoor workplaces and public buildings. It also has said it will not hire any prospective employees who smoke or use other tobacco products.
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May 31, 2006 |
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They don't put pictures of dead people on bullets, so why does tobacco packaging need it?
"It also has said it will not hire any prospective employees who smoke or use other tobacco products."
That's pretty extreme. What about people who smoke pot, drink coffee, or drink alcohol? Do they screen for those substance abusers too?
We know just in the USA alone more than 10,000 people are killed by candles every year (including birthday candles), yet they are still sold to children. We need to put candles behind the counter with tobacco products under lock and key. We need to tax candles heavily to help pay for all the lives damaged by them. Candle makers should bare some of the responsibilities in this. They know candles can kill many people at a time.
The drain on the medical system due to cancer treatment, unnecessary treatment, the wasted land food crops could be grown on, blueberries can grow in poor soil where tobacco is grown.
I agree people can kill themselves if they want to but when their habit costs me money I don't care if they pout when a scary picture is put on their box of cancer sticks.
Many studies have found that smokers are more productive than non smokers for a few reasons.
1)We complain about the weather less, and arrive at work in more adverse conditions, seeing as we have to spend some of our day in it being forced outside by non-smokers.
2)We get our tasks accomplished faster so we have enough work done so that we won't catch heat for having a cigarette.No, no they can't. The sun is far too intense in those regions for blueberries, unless you're referring to the tobacco wrap leaf used on cigars.
My habit costs you nothing. I pay a huge tax to smoke. Average cost of a pack of cigarettes sans vice taxes is between $0.50 and $1.25. Average price in a store after taxes is $7.00 countrywide.
If you want to start imposing health-based vice taxes, don't expect your coffee or alcohol to remain affordable.