Cigarette Warning Labels
~ By Colette
Earlier this summer I had the opportunity to vacation in Portugal. As I was walking down the lovely cobblestone streets in Evora a discarded cigarette pack caught my eye, the ”Smoking Kills” warning label took up almost half the package (conveniently this pack was written in English). Later, I found a discarded pack written in Portuguese and it occurred to me to look at both sides. Translated with the help of Google one side says “Smoking kills” the other “Smoking causes fatal lung cancer.” This is a much different approach than the cigarette warning labels used in the U.S.
I wondered:
Is this approach more effective than the warning labels used in the US?
Are cigarette warning labels effective or do smokers just ignore them?
Do warning labels impact adolescents’ decisions to smoke?
Back at work I looked for answers. According to international research by David Hammond and colleagues (appearing in a 2006 issue of Tobacco Control and a 2007 issue of American Journal of Preventive Medicine), cigarette warning labels are a source of health information and an effective means for communicating about risks for specific diseases. Warnings that are comprehensive and graphic (such as those in Canada which include images) or which are periodically revised (such as recent changes in the U.K.) are more likely to be effective and noticed.
While this research was conducted with adults, a 2008 review of the research conducted by Dr. Hammond suggests that youth may be especially responsive to picture warnings of the dangers of smoking. Available from the Canadian-based Tobacco Labelling Resource Centre, the Tobacco Labelling & Packaging Toolkit includes color photographs of cigarette packs from around the world. I encourage anyone curious about cigarette warning labels (or cigarette packaging in general) to browse through this document. It is clear that the U.S. has much room for improvement when it comes to creating warning labels which will successfully prevent and reduce cigarette smoking.
August 16th, 2008 at 10:13 am
Your blog is interesting!
Keep up the good work!