F.D.A. Reveals Graphic Warning Labels for Cigarettes

On Wednesday, Federal Drug regulators unveiled a warning label for cigarette packages including some striking images of the effects from smoking. 

The packaging is designed to cover half of the surface area of a pack of cigarettes. According to the New York Times, the new labels are intended to spur smokers to quit by providing graphic reminders of tobacco's dangers. 

The labels are a part of a new law passed last year that gave the FDA the power to regulate tobacco products for the first time. 

Some of the pictures include a man with smoking from a tracheostomy tube inserted into his throat, a diseased lung, and a woman holding a baby in a smoke- filled room. According to the New York Times, the proposals stayed away from some of the more vivid images used in other countries like blackened teeth and diseased mouths. 

Public health officials are hoping that the new labels will re-energize the nation's antismoking efforts which have stalled in recent years.