The Food and Drug Administration has required that graphic images—rotting teeth, the corpse of a smoker and a diseased lung, among others—take up the top half of the front and back of all cigarette packs by September 2012.
The nine images, which also include a man with a tracheotomy smoking and a woman with a baby surrounded by smoke, will be accompanied by phrases like "Smoking can kill you" and "Cigarettes cause cancer."
"The new warning labels on cigarettes are a huge step forward," said Geoff Zuckerman, Tobacco Free Colleges Coordinator at UNCW. "We hope it will help people think twice before buying another pack and help them to kick the highly addictive habit. We also hope that it will prevent youth from ever buying their first pack."
Tobacco advertisements larger than 12 inches must also contain a warning label that constitutes 20 percent of the ad. Smaller advertisements are not required to have 20 percent coverage but must include a warning.
Tobacco makers in the past have fought government regulation of warning labels on the grounds that the visibility of the brand is compromised. A 2009 federal lawsuit filed by Reynolds-American Inc. called the mandatory use of larger labels "unconstitutional," according to an article in Industry Leaders Magazine.
Canada, Brazil and Australia are among the 30 countries worldwide that have implemented similar rules requiring graphic images or warnings on the sides of cigarette packs. Member countries of the European Union must print warnings such as "Smokers die younger" and "Smoking kills" in large typeface.
"These kind of graphic warning labels strengthen the understanding of people about the health risks of smoking," FDA Commissioner Margaret Hamburg said in an interview with the Associated Press. "We clearly have to renew a national conversation around these issues and enhance awareness."
According to the Center for Disease Control, more deaths are caused each year by tobacco use than all deaths from human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), illegal drug use, alcohol use, motor vehicle injuries, suicides, and murders combined. The CDC estimates that cigarette smoking causes 443,000 deaths each year in the United States.
