June 21, 2011
FDA Approves New Cigarette Pack Warning Graphics
The FDA is trying to scare you away from smoking with some freaky looking graphics that will make their way onto cigarette packs in September of 2012:
Click the link above to see all of the grahpics.
One might wonder: if smoking is such a bad thing (and yes, it does cause terrible health issues including emphysema and cancer), why doesn't the government ban it?
Two words: tax revenue. Government programs like the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) are funded by federal taxes on cigarettes - back in 2007, the program's funding was reauthorized with a $35 billion expansion - funded by a 61 cents per pack tax increase. And, according to the Heritage Foundation, 22.4 million new smokers will be needed by 2017 to produce the revenue necessary for SCHIP.
States also like their ciggie revenue, and fret when it goes down due to more people quitting - even as they publicly vilify smokers by making it harder and harder to smoke anywhere - even in your own home.
Ironic, isn't it?
(Full disclosure: I am an on-again, off-again smoker. I tend to turn back to it during extremely stressful periods in my life.)
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