Report Shows Effects Of Placing Graphic Images On Cigarette Cartons

KYW's Medical Reports Sponsored By Independence Blue Cross

By Dr. Brian McDonough, Medical Editor

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- We know that cigarettes increase the risk of lung cancer, emphysema and heart disease among other things. Despite warnings on boxes and cartons of cigarettes there are still many people –especially young people, who have turned to cigarettes.

But what about more graphic warnings—not words but images.

According to a report in Jama Internal Medicine, images on cigarette packaging showing the ravages of smoking were effective at preventing people from smoking in the first place and increasing the number of people trying to quit.

The study included close to 2,000 smokers randomized to have the graphic images placed on their cigarette packs. One image shows a mouth full of rotting teeth.
Another, a healthy lung juxtaposed against a badly diseased one, and a third shows a man exhaling cigarette smoke through a tracheotomy hole in his throat.