Please answer these questions before you type your opinion.
1. Are you under the age of 21? 2. Did you know cigarettes play a part in causing cancer? If you're over 21, did you know they caused cancer before your 21st birthday? 3. Optional Do you smoke? If so, did you know cigarettes caused cancer before you started smoking?
Please answer the above questions at the beginning of your post before you read on.
Did you answer the above questions? Good. Chances are, everyone already knows cigarettes cause cancer. I'm also certain that everyone who smokes also knew cigarettes caused cancer before they smoked their first cigarette.
1. Almost everybody who smokes already knows the dangers of smoking. They knew before touching their first cigarette. 2. Many of those pictures are very graphic, and if any other company posted such gruesome pictures on their own products for one reason or another, I'm sure they would have been taken to court, or at least have their products removed from the shelves!
I do not smoke. I don't care to be around smokers. However, I believe the FDA is going too far. Not only do they insult everyone's intelligence, but they fail to allow people to make their own decisions without having to put up with their sickening scare tactics.
As a quick caveat I wasn't condemning parents who smoke, I understand that it's possible to smoke and expose your children to very little of that smoke. I was, however, condemning smoking parents who don't go out of their way to prevent their children from inhaling second hand smoke and wouldn't attempt to hide cigarettes with graphic labels.
I believe that smoking is a bad habit. I myself smoked for about 5 years, then quit for my own reasons. That bieng said, I believe that putting graphic labels on cartons or dire warnings of slow death through smoking is not only going too far, its completely ineffective.
I dont believe that people look at a cigarette pack or carton, look at the label and say, "wait...you mean cigarettes DONT make me look cool?!" Smoking has been the red-headed stepchild of society for several years. Its been villified and turned into this horrible crime against humanity by the FDA, and other groups. I could go on a rant about that, but, to stay on point, I believe that if a teen or adult want to smoke, nothing will stop them. The FDA needs to consider that theyve done everything short of banning it completely and move on to something else.
OK notice all the other developed countries?? I think they must be doing something right, because for the most part all the others don't have as high a smoking rate or the same prevalence level. If i handed you a suicide pill, made you buy it for 6 bucks and X years later you die of A, Y and/or Z?? Yeah i see no problem putting warnings on cigarettes. Also, a graphic picture gives the smoker/ potential smoker something to relate to... Lets them see actually what can ( or possibly will) happen if they continue smoking or start smoking.
Like I said, you can also kick people in the groin every time they smoke. I'm pretty sure this would also lower the numbers. However, that doesn't make it right. Just because you have results doesn't mean the way you obtained them is correct.
I think the pictures should be directed at the outcomes that are more likely, i.e. lung cancer and yellowed teeth, than outcomes that are less likely and kind of pointless, i.e. impotence. Not only does this portray smoking in a more factual manner it takes away the mild propaganda aspect.
Why can't we let people enjoy their cigarettes?
Sure, teenagers will not see nasty pictures that will scare them away from smoking. OoOoOh. What about people who already smoke? What about people who understand the risks of smoking (everyone who smokes)? What about people who don't smoke and don't want to look at those pictures? I may not be a smoker, but I still see cigarettes on the walls of stores and gas stations.
If I want to take a drug that will cause unhealthy side effects in my future, that's my right. The FDA needs to stop fighting this war and allow people to smoke. The FDA should keep people informed... actually, other scientists should. The FDA needs to get out completely.
