New cigarette warning labels unveiled

Representatives of Iowa public health agencies and advocacy groups hailed the new graphic warning labels required to be displayed on cigarette packages.

“We're very excited,” said Jill Roeder, manager of Linn County Public Health's Healthy Behaviors branch. “This is great for tobacco control in the country.”

Roeder said research has shown that the graphic photos, which depict consequences of smoking, elicit emotional responses as compared to text-only.

Labels will rotate, “so the mind won't become numb to the pictures,” she said.

The new warning labels were unveiled Tuesday, June 21, 2011, by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

“This measure is aimed at making sure that every American understands the dangers of smoking,” the agencies said in a statement.

The nine graphic health warnings will be required to appear on every pack of cigarettes sold in the United States and every cigarette advertisement beginning in September 2012.

“I think it certainly grabs your attention,” said Chuck Reed, spokesman for the Iowa Cancer Society's Midwest Division.

Reed noted that the labels had not changed for at least 25 years.

Iowa's adult smoking rate has dropped to its current level of about 14 percent, but that same improvement hasn't been seen in youth smokers. The labels might help prevent youths from starting to smoke, Reed said, as well as make an impact on cancer rates.

Tobacco use remains the number one cause of cancer in the world, he said, accounting for 30 percent of cancers.

Bonnie Mapes, director of the Iowa Department of Public Health's division of Tobacco Use, Prevention and Control, applauded the requirement to include 1-800-Quit-Now number on the labels. The number connects callers to cessation programs.

Iowa's program is in jeopardy as the Iowa House has nothing allocated for tobacco control, while the Senate is proposing $4.3 million.

Quitline, which is budgeted for $830,000 in the next fiscal year, is one of the programs covered under that funding.

Mapes said Quitline is one of the most effective ways to help smokers quit smoking, when combined with nicotine therapy replacement.

Linn and Ringgold counties offer free nicotine replacement, such as gum or patches, through a federal grant, but funding for that program is no longer available for other Iowans, she said.

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