SMOKING SCARE TACTICS - Cigarette packs may carry pictures of cancer-ravaged organs.

SkyNews ^ | 08/04/03 | Staff Writer

[bedolido]

Cigarette packs could soon carry distrurbing pictures of cancer-ravaged organs.

A new study shows smokers have become immune to current warnings on packets and calls for a radical re-think.

It could lead to the use of images pictures of damaged hearts and lungs to push home the 'smoking kills' message.

Experts at the Cancer Research UK Centre for Tobacco Control Research in Scotland led the European-wide investigation.

Interviews were conducted with 56 focus groups in Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Spain and Sweden.

Participants looked at pre-2001 "small" warnings on cigarette packs and current large "black and white" warnings.

The results showed it was vital for warnings to be continually "refreshed" to avoid smokers becoming immune to them.

One of the best methods of renewing warnings was shown to be through the use of images.

Research officer Elinor Devlin said: "This is a careful balancing act.

"There is a need to grab attention but we want smokers to then interact with the warnings, not feel victimised.

"Warnings should offer information to smokers so they know all the risks.

"A smoker then has facts to inform their decision on whether they should consider giving up."

Last Updated: 09:39 UK, Monday August 04, 2003

[Dooderbutt]

Ok, we can post pictures of cancer-ravaged organs on cigarette packs (which, by the way we CHOSE to smoke), but if you try to put up pictures of an aborted fetus - who doesn't have a choice - on a billboard you're ripped up one side and down the other.

[stainlessbanner]

LOL! Will they start putting fatties on Oreo packages?

[Pearls Before Swine]

Maybe this idea will spread. Think of other things that could be labeled with "what can go wrong" images. Airplanes, ammo, personal lubricants--the possibilities are endless.

[xp38]

Old news...this has been going on in Canada for some time now.

[Constitution Day]

I reckon, man.

I have to say, this truth-in-advertising idea would be pretty amusing if applied to everything.

[Afronaut]

And because there is a lot of things that are not good for you Smoking is OK? Very Poor Logic. Better have another Cig. Are your fingers yellow? Hows that cough? Are you proud to be an addict? Or can you just quit anytime you feel like it?

I have heard it all, You are just plain stupid to smoke. Nicotine is more important than staying healthy and spending time with your children instead of dying an early death.

I went to a club in NYC and I could breath for the first time in my life. The only thing that Bloomberg did that I can thank him for.

[robertpaulsen]

"Think of other things that could be labeled with "what can go wrong" images. Airplanes, ammo, personal lubricants--the possibilities are endless."

From all of us in Project Mayhem to you.

[Prodigal Son]

By this standard:

Only a moron would join the Army knowing he's going to war.

Only a moron would drive or fly in a plane or have surgery under general anesthesia. Only a moron would skydive, scuba dive, muff dive or have any kind of sex. Only a moron would use power tools, barbecues, high heel shoes. Only a moron would be an anthrax (or other deadly substance) researcher, bomb disposal team member, race car driver or fireman.

Only a moron would've gone out West in America when it was still populated by scalping savages...

Life is just as much about living your own life, making your own choices and living with the consequences as it is about wringing every last microsecond out of it.

[Fraulein]

ping!

[Fraulein]

The only thing that Bloomberg did that I can thank him for.

Glad to hear that you are anti-property rights & that you support such socialist 'do-gooder statist' measures & that you are such a proud member of the hysterical crowd. /sarcasm

[Fraulein]

Nobody does SCARE TACTICS better than liberals.

[andy58-in-nh]

Just lovely. Hey, can we mandate that every SSI welfare check carry an image of a broken family?

[Madame Dufarge]

Only a Moron would Smoke after knowing what we know now.

Only a moron, in a free society, would call other adults morons for living their own lives, not hers.

[Afronaut]

Addicts are all the same. Pathetic

[Just another Joe]

Addicts are all the same. Pathetic

Apparently so are Afronauts that are addicted to making the state do their market work for them.
Pathetic.

[honeygrl]

They could name them Tumors and make the package say "You're going to die!" everytime you open it and it wouldn't make much difference.

[honeygrl]

"Maybe this idea will spread. Think of other things that could be labeled with "what can go wrong" images. Airplanes, ammo, personal lubricants--the possibilities are endless. "

Yep, the airlines would do really well with photos of crashed airplanes on their tickets. How about dead babies on the dash of the car where the airbag is? Photos of people puking on alcoholic beverage containers? Photos of gunshot wounds on ammo packages? Photos of people who have drown on signs near swimming pools? Photos of cellulite on anything with fat in it? Great ideas. /sarcasm Ultimately, it won't stop many people though.