The FDA’s Frightening Anti-Smoking Campaign for Teens Hits Them Where It Hurts

The last time the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) tried to use graphic images to deter smokers in 2012, a judge ruled its graphic labels–which included images of rotting lips, corpses, and diseased lungs–unconstitutional. Two years later, the FDA has revealed its latest move, announcing its first national anti-smoking campaign aimed at teens. At first look, the result is similarly dramatic, though slightly less frightening: One ad features a teen pulling out a tooth with a wrench to pay for a pack of cigarettes, while another simply focuses on a young woman with wrinkles.
Called “The Real Cost,” the campaign aims to decrease the number of teens between the ages 12 and 17 from becoming hooked on tobacco by emphasizing the bodily harm smoking can inflict–and tapping into teens’ concerns about their appearance. “The FDA has collaborated with some of the brightest and most creative minds to develop a multimedia initiative designed to make the target audience acutely aware of the risk from every cigarette by highlighting consequences that young people are really concerned about,” said Mitchell Zeller, director of the FDA’s Center for Tobacco Products said in a statement. The campaign also underscores the addictive quality of nicotine, since many young people presume they can quit whenever they want.
The ads, which will begin appearing nationwide on Feb. 11, will be seen in 200 different markets on TV, radio, print, and online. You can watch a preview here:
Before launch, the FDA conducted massive ad testing and found the ads to be memorable and engaging among their target audience. The agency plans to track the effectiveness of the campaign by monitoring 8,000 people between the ages of 11 and 16 for two years to see whether there are any changes in tobacco knowledge and attitudes. “As a regulatory agency, everything the FDA does is grounded in science,” Zeller said.
Tobacco use had a sharp drop among teens between 1997 and 2003, but began to slow in 2003 and came to almost a halt between 2009 to 2011, according to data released from the CDC in 2012. Health experts speculate that the reasons for the range from lower state dedication to the cause to teen’s growing interest in other products like small cigars. Emerging research shows that teens are also taking a liking to e-cigarettes, which don’t contain tobacco but still have nicotine.
The FDA’s latest initiative is part of their overall move to tighten their control over the tobacco industry. Every day, more than 3,200 young people under the age of 18 try their first cigarette, and more than 700 of them will become daily smokers. It is the leading cause of preventable disease, disability, and death in the U.S., and responsible for 480,000 deaths every year.

Be in charge of your life

The 1982 United States Surgeon General's report in 1982 stated that "cigarette smoking is the major single cause of cancer mortality (death) in the United States." This statement is as true today as it was in 1982.

About half of all Americans who keep smoking will die because of the habit. Each year about 443,000 people in the United States die from illnesses related to cigarette smoking

Cigarettes, cigars, and spit and pipe tobacco are made from dried tobacco leaves, as well as ingredients added for flavor and other reasons. More than 4,000 different chemicals have been found in tobacco and tobacco smoke.

Smoking is responsible for nearly 1 in 5 deaths in the United States. Because cigarette smoking and tobacco use are acquired behaviors -- activities that people choose to do -- smoking is the most preventable cause of premature death in our society.

There are hundreds of substances added to cigarettes by manufacturers to enhance the flavor or to make smoking more pleasant. Some of the compounds found in tobacco smoke include ammonia, tar, and carbon monoxide.

Exactly what effects these substances have on the cigarette smoker's health is unknown, but there is no evidence that lowering the tar content of a cigarette lowers the health risk. Manufacturers do not usually give out information to the public about the additives used in cigarettes, so it is hard to know the health risks.

Take charge of your health and sign up for the tobacco cessation classes at the Health and Wellness Center. Team Hill federal employees will be offered 12 weeks of free tobacco cessation medication while attending classes. Funding is limited.

Protecting our children from cigarette smoke

As the smoke clears from the political drama and rancor over the passing of health care reform in Washington, D.C., my guess is regular folks in southwest Minnesota are still confused, and the good, or the not so good, of the historic legislation won’t be measured for some time.

For example, if you consider that in Minnesota alone, tobacco use results in $2 billion in health care costs, can you imagine the direct impact a significant reduction of tobacco use would have in the effort to reduce the price tag of health care?

What we’re asking is, what if, as we wait for the “big deal” health care reforms to play out, our community and state leaders came together to accomplish some common sense solutions? Solutions that aren’t hard to understand, difficult to accomplish or require additional cost to taxpayers — and would have a direct and significant impact on health care costs and the health and well being of our children and grandchildren?

One such common sense effort is to keep children from using tobacco.

Admittedly, this one’s not easy. Last year the tobacco industry spent more than $190 million marketing its products in Minnesota. Much of that cleverly and indirectly, aimed at young adults.

One might think that in today’s hyper-communication society kids are surely aware of the perils of tobacco use and would avoid its use like the plague. Not so. Today’s tobacco industry is continuously evolving and adapting to 21st-century standards and finding new ways to hook children, teenagers and young adults into using, or continuing to use their products.

An attempt to mitigate these trends is the proposed Tobacco Modernization and Compliance Act that is currently moving through the legislature in St. Paul. Basically, this act will take some very simple steps to reduce youth access to tobacco products and reduce the ability of tobacco companies to evade paying taxes on certain products.

Those steps include: Classifying “little cigars” to what they really are — cigarettes — and subjecting them to further regulation and tax stamping; ensuring that new products such as candy flavored, nicotine-laced chewing tobaccos are covered by existing tobacco laws and not sold next to candy and gum; prohibiting the sale of electronic nicotine delivery devices that simulate smoking to youth.

Admittedly, in light of the efforts of Congress and the President to achieve comprehensive health care reform, these simple measures may not seem like a “big deal,” but if accomplished, they just might keep one of our children or grandchildren from the pain and suffering of tobacco-related disease.

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Users of illegal cigarettes brushing off health risk

They are available all over the state

LIKE most smokers, 35-year-old Mohd Wan (not his real name) had an uneasy time balancing his finances to lower his two-packs-a-day smoking habit, more so since he works and lives in the city,   where the cost of living is higher.
"I have been smoking for the past 13 years and have seen premium cigarette brands double in cost, from RM5.20 for a pack of 20s in the early 2000s to RM12 now," he said in the city centre recently.
But, for the past two years, the sales executive has spent less money when smoking his favourite American brand.
"My cigarettes sell for RM6 a pack. At times, it can also cost as low as RM5.70 a pack, depending on how much I buy."
He said this was despite the annual increase in sin tax on tobacco and alcohol by the government.
To our eyes, Mohd Wan's cigarette pack looks no different from those sold over the counter in eateries and convenience stores.
It is white and, at the same time, resembles the same box as the American brand that he has been smoking for the past six years.
Yet, the cigarettes that Mohd Wan smokes are contraband cigarettes, mainly from Indonesia, which are easily available in Johor Baru.
In fact, the sale of contraband cigarettes is not limited to the state capital, but also occurs in town districts like Muar, Batu Pahat, Labis and Pontian.
Their popularity is because of the price difference when compared with the real deal.
A contraband non-premium pack of 20s can cost as low as RM3.
The usual premium brands that are smuggled into Johor are Marlboro (red and lights), Dunhill (red and blue), Ella and Luffman, in addition to other lesser-known brands.
In addition, illicit kretek (clove cigarettes) are also popular and cheaper than the "official" ones.
Popular brands include Gudang Garam (regular and Suria), LA, Sampoerna and DjiSamSu 234.
While some customers claim that illicit cigarettes taste better than their original counterparts, the main motivation for buying them is because they are cheaper.
Checks have revealed that such cigarettes are sold mainly in sundry shops in rural and urban areas in the state. It is also common for jamu (traditional Indonesian herbal medicine  herbal  medicine) shops   to carry contraband cigarettes.
One only needs to ask the shop owner, who will bring out the cigarettes.
At times, contraband cigarettes are sold alongside regular ones.
However, they are mostly hidden because they do not carry the warning images on the packs.
For example, the normal Marlboro will be called as its namesake. But, the contraband is called Marlburi (denoting Marlboro Indonesia).
Such jamu-cum-sundry shops, usually run by Achenese businessmen, are popular in Johor Baru and cater to Indonesian contract workers. However, over the years, such shops have grown popular among the locals as well.
This is because of their more competitive prices and choices of toiletries and other medicines.
Smokers like Mohd Wan depend on the purchase of illicit cigarettes in these places to fuel their addiction.
As expected, he brushes off the health risks and chances of getting caught by the authorities.
And, this is despite warnings by the authorities that contraband cigarettes may cause more harm to one's health because of the higher levels of tar and nicotine compounds in the tobacco.