Posted on 06/25/2004 9:35:57 AM PDT by presidio9
Australian smokers will soon have to look at the picture of a cancer-ridden lung or a gangrenous foot missing toes each time they light up.
Following a trend pioneered by Canada, the government said it wants cigarette companies to put graphic pictures and warnings on 30 percent of the front of each pack and 90 percent of the back.
One gruesome photo shows a color cross-section of a diseased lung. Another shows a blackened foot missing a toe and the rest twisted. "Smoking causes peripheral vascular disease," it reads. A third shows a dissected, bloodied brain with the caption, "Smoking doubles your risk of stroke."
"The experience in Canada showed there was a three percent drop in smoking," Trish Worth, parliamentary secretary for health, told reporters. Canada introduced the warnings and pictures of diseased organs in late 2000.
But Australian cigarette makers say the move will not alter smoking patterns, and one called it a desperate tactic.
Health Minister Tony Abbott said cigarette companies would have 18 months to make the changes once the government announces them officially.
Anti-smoking groups denounced the government for "caving in" to the tobacco lobby and mandating only 30 percent of the packet's fronts for photos, instead of 50 percent as in Canada.
"Concessions to the tobacco industry of smaller warnings on the front of cigarette packs and delaying their introduction is a bad decision," said Alan Coates, chief executive of the Cancer Council Australia.
The government first set a date of June 2005 for the changes but cigarette makers said they needed longer.
Manufacturers said the move was detrimental.
"The use of medically pornographic images," had little impact on Canadian smoking levels, said Peter Richards, managing director of Imperial Tobacco Australia Ltd.
"This proposal is simply a desperate tactic designed to placate anti-smoking zealots as opposed to sensibly addressing the communication of the health risks associated with smoking," Richards said in a statement.
I can't think of anyone who has ever been dissuaded from smoking through shock tactics. The fact is that the bad health effects of smoking are too-long term to impact the average person's behavior in the short-term. People are usually motivated to quit when or if they start to feel genuinely ill effects, or actually become sick; not sooner.
What's next? Pictures on beer bottles that show you the face of the person you're liable to wind up with at closing time?
The cig case manufacturers are gearing up for a growth in demand.
Seriesly, I have a friend that bought a pack of "mini cigars" in EU and it had these huge stickers on it. Now the "smoking kills" sticker is on the inside of my cig case! It's a great conversation piece.
The Fin's have had these pics on their cigs for years. They are great for starting up a conversation at a party.
"Hey, I'll show you what my lung looks like if you show me (fill in the blank). Works every time.
What's next, pictures of ugly women on beer cans?
It reminds me of an interesting observation made by a reader in the current issue of Forbes, in which he points out that “Japan, the world’s healthiest nation, has the highest smoking rate among rich countries.”
Anyway, someone here pointed out once that cigarette manufacturers should market a cigarette line called “Certain Death.” It’d come in a black pack with white skull and crossbones logo. The warning would state that “these cigarettes WILL absolutely kill you." Each pack would contain a small baseball card-like photo of a brain with tumors, or cancerous lung or whatever. They’d also cost a premium WRT other cigarettes.
That poster predicted that they’d be an instant hit and every kid in the nation would want to be seen smoking them.
Damn!!! That's just wrong....
Wonder if their abortion clinics hang pictures of aborted fetuses on the walls of the waiting room?
My favorite, from a pack of cigarettes I bought in Brazil:
"Smoking causes sexual impotance." - with a picture of a man and woman in bed, the woman rolling over to sleep and the man looking at the camera shrugging his shoulders.
I work at a hospital and you wouldn't believe the number of health care workers here that smoke. And we all see the effects of smoking. And still puff away.
This is getting a little like pictures that come with bubble gum. "Garbage Can Smokes"
Please file in the "wretched excess" file. Thank you.
I wonder if the photos will be of the same pig lungs used in Delaware to tell kids they were human lungs?
Purveyors of alcoholic beverages have been known to airbrush skulls and other morbid imagery into ice cubes and other parts of ads for decades. The subliminal images boost liquor sales.
Death is not a deterrent.
I bought two dozen hard plastic cigarette cases, in all colors, from Ebay. And since I roll my own, I don't have to put up with that garbage any longer.
It's "for the kids" you know. Teens just LOVE to collect these gruesome photos. heh!
These undated handout photos show an example of the graphic images, L-front of packet, R-back of packet, which in the future will cover most of the outside of cigarette packages. The Australian government decided to allow the packaging Friday, agreeing that the warnings -- carrying grisly images of diseased body parts -- would cover just one-third of the front of a packet and 90 percent of the back and would begin within 18 months.(AFP/HO)
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