Federal agency reveals new photo campaign to dissuade youngsters from smoking

By Staff Writer

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) recently unveiled its new campaign to reduce the number of smoking-related deaths as well as the rate of teenagers who take their first puff every day.

According to the New Jersey Star-Ledger, the federal agency has proposed a new anti-smoking strategy that will place one of 36 photos on the cover of every pack of cigarettes. The photos are intended to show the harmful effects of tobacco, and they include images of a cancerous human mouth, corpses and crying children.

The Food and Drug Administration will decide by June 2011 on the final images, which will start appearing in October 2012.

The DHHS's campaign, which is funded by tobacco companies, is part of the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act, which was signed into law last year. Federal officials say that one of the goals of the new photos is to significantly reduce the number of first-time teen smokers. The DHHS says that 4,000 adolescents try cigarettes for the first time every day.

According to the National Center for Biotechnology Information, children who smoke are more likely than nonsmokers to experience various behavioral problems by grade 12.