It
is a proven fact that smoking tobacco is harmful to your health; one in five
deaths in the U.S. in 2008 were tobacco related, including those caused by secondhand
smoke. So why do people continue
to smoke, knowing this information?
The World Health Organization (WHO) says that part of the reason may be due to improper warning labels on cigarette cartons. Erie-Niagara Tobacco Free Coalition and
the Roswell Park Cancer Institute (RPCI) are now joining the WHO in the fight to change warning labels on tobacco. They have adopted the slogan, “Show the truth. Picture warnings save lives.”
The
research and the campaign tie into World No Tobacco Day, which was created by the WHO in
1987 and takes place today, May 31st, in an attempt to draw attention to the negative health effects
of tobacco and just how far its negative effects reach throughout our society.
The
base argument for the campaign is to get pictures on
the outside of cigarette cartons, as well as bigger warnings that “meet all the
criteria for maximal effectiveness,” including warnings that span over more
than half the pack.
The
Chairman of the Department of Health Behavior at RPCI, Dr. K. Michael Cummings
said it is a proven fact that pictures can mean more to people and have a
greater effectiveness in warnings throughout the world.
“WHO’s Show the Truth campaign makes a lot of sense as research, which compares the
effectiveness of warnings labels among different countries, has clearly
demonstrated that picture-based warnings work better than the small text-based
warnings on cigarette packets,” Cummings said.
Studies
have been conducted through the International Tobacco Control Policy Evaluation
Project in many places throughout the world such as Canada, the United Kingdom
and Australia that have proven the basis of the WHO’s argument of warning
labels.
It
is also said that these different health warnings, in addition to acting as a
deterring factor to current smokers, will also deter young people who are considering smoking.
“Every
day, approximately, 3,500 kids will try a cigarette for the first time, and
another 1,000 will become new, regular daily smokers. One-third of these kids will eventually die prematurely as a
result of their addiction,” said Ernesto Sebrie, MD, Department of Health
Behavior at RPCI.
As
part of the campaign, RPCI plans on conducting research into the effectiveness
of pictorial versus non-pictorial warning labels through the use of
surveys. The work of the
Department of Health at RPCI will begin this week in places such as shopping
malls, department stores, festivals and even baseball games to reach a broad
survey base about different designs.
Participants
in this survey will be given the opportunity to put in their two cents about
which design they think would be more effective to accomplish both the tasks of preventing new smokers and deterring habitual smokers.
With
its growing influence, it isn’t hard for anyone to make some kind of connection
to someone who smokes, or smoke themselves. With an increasing number of smokers, it is becoming more
important to fully educate those who may not be aware of the harmful effects,
as well as that of secondhand smoke.
Research
to be done in the Western New York area by Roswell Park Cancer Institute and
Erie-Niagara Tobacco-Free Coalition, which is housed within RPCI as part of the
New York State Tobacco Control Program, will support the WHO in their campaign. The Erie-Niagara Tobacco Free Coalition
is part of a statewide network with the goal to change the community
environment throughout all the counties in the state to develop and support a
tobacco free norm.