Cigarette Warning Labels

Guest: Nicole LaVoie, Doctoral Student at the University of Illinois  Remember how several years ago the Food and Drug Administration decided to start requiring graphic images on cigarette packages to up-the-ante on the warning label? One of the approved images was a mouth riddled with cancer missing teeth and part of the lip. Another showed a man smoking through a hole in his trachea with the words, “Warning: Cigarettes are addictive.”  Well, tobacco companies sued and a court ruled the graphic warnings violated the company’s constitution right to free speech. That case is still tied up in appeals.  But in the meantime, a University of Illinois study found the more intense warnings may not do much to deter smoking.