The warnings proposed by FDA would appear on individual cigarette packages and i

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has proposed a rule to require new health warnings on tobacco products. The proposed warnings would appear on individual cigarette packages and in advertising.
    Cigarette packs would have realistic color pictures showing some of the lesser-known, but serious health risks of smoking. They include a smoker’s increased risk of developing conditions such as diabetes as well as lung cancer.
    The Food and Drug Administration, also called FDA, is the federal agency responsible for protecting the health of people in the United States.
    Not only do the proposed warnings contain graphic images, the written information would also be easier to see. In a statement, FDA officials said the agency did research and found that many people did not read its small text-only warnings.
    The statement described the proposed rule as the "most significant change to cigarette labels in more than 35 years."
    The proposal would add 13 new health warnings.
    Doctor Ned Sharpless is a cancer specialist and the head of the FDA. In a statement, Sharpless noted that "tobacco use is still the leading cause of preventable disease and death in the U.S." He said it "kills more people each year than alcohol, HIV, car accidents, illegal drugs, murders and suicides combined."
    Sharpless added that the FDA remains "committed to educating the public, especially America’s youth, about the dangers associated with using cigarettes and other tobacco products." The agency said that "over 16 million Americans alive today live with disease caused by cigarette smoking." It added that "tobacco use also costs more than $300 billion a year in direct health care costs and lost productivity."
    First Amendment court battle
    This is not the first time FDA officials have tried to add graphic images to tobacco warnings. In 2011, the agency proposed similar warnings. But cigarette companies took legal action to stop them. The companies claimed the graphic warnings violated their constitutional right of freedom of speech. In 2012, tobacco companies won in court.
    Smoking worldwide
    Last month, the World Health Organization expressed its support for the use of graphic images in tobacco warnings.
    Studies in Brazil, Canada, Singapore and Thailand, the WHO said, "consistently show that pictorial warnings significantly increase people’s awareness of the harms from tobacco use." In the same statement, the WHO called tobacco use an "epidemic" and "one of the biggest public health threats the world has ever faced."
    The statement also provided the following information:
    Tobacco kills up to half of its users.
    Around the world, tobacco kills more than 8 million people each year. Around 1.2 million of those deaths are non-smokers who breathe in second-hand smoke.
    Around 80% of the world’s 1.1 billion smokers live in low- and middle-income countries.