Smoking :: Graphic health warnings on cigarettes to show smoking diseases, UK

Cigarette pack warning labels with prominent text and graphic pictures of smoking damage are most effective at changing smokers’ behavior. Images highlighting the dangers of smoking will be printed on all tobacco products sold in the UK by the end of 2009, under regulations being set out.

UK cigarettes Manufacturers will have to start complying from October next year.

After a public consultation 15 images, including ones of diseased lungs, have been chosen to accompany text warnings about lung cancer and heart disease.

Health Secretary Alan Johnson told BBC News there was evidence from other countries that the new images would help people quit.

Most countries require warnings about health risks on every package, but the effectiveness of these warnings depends upon the design and the “freshness” of the messages. In a multi-country study published in the March_2007 issue of the American Journal of Preventive Medicine, researchers found that more prominent text messages were more effective and graphic pictures even more so in affecting smokers’ behaviors.


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