Graphic tobacco warning labels – an improper solution?

Abstract

Joshua D SalviWeill Cornell Medical College, New York, NY, USAIn June 2009, President Barack Obama signed into law the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act (HR 1256). This legislation required that all tobacco products and advertising must have a graphic warning covering 50 percent of the front and back of the package. The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has proposed a number of graphic designs, and the final designs were submitted in June, 2011. The proposed designs include grotesque imagery in an attempt to dissuade smoking in the USA. However, these graphic labels were invalidated in court due to violation of freedom-of-speech rights. Independent from that point, these labels, if appealed, would do more harm than good from a public health perspective.