GRAPHIC IMAGES DEPICTING the negative health impacts associated with smoking are soon to be placed on tobacco packaging sold in Ireland.
The Minister for Health James Reilly announced that graphic images would be introduced in Ireland from next February – saying that if such images “shocked” people into considering the impact of smoking “then the warnings will have achieved their objective”.
Research has shown that graphic warnings, which are already used by many countries worldwide, have a notable impact upon smokers: a study published in the American Journal of Preventative Medicine today, which involved 200 smokers, concluded that 83 per cent were able to remember a health warning that appeared alongside a graphic photograph – while only 50 per cent remembers a message appearing as text only.
The warnings which will soon feature on tobacco packing will depict such images as: a pair of lungs severely affected by cancer, a large cancerous tumour on a man’s neck, a picture of a person’ mouth – showing blackened teeth and diseased throat, and a small child wearing an oxygen mask.
We’d like to know your thoughts on the plans: do you support the introduction of graphic warnings on tobacco packaging?
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