Tales of the Red Tape #1: We See Dead People

Diane Katz / February 22, 2011

Images of bloodless corpses and gasping babies would have to cover at least 50 percent of each cigarette pack under regulation proposed by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Although smoking rates have declined steadily for the past 40 years—down 52 percent since 1965—and every kindergartner can recite the evils of tobacco use, the FDA claims that current warnings are “ineffective.”

According to the agency, there’s a “worldwide consensus” that tobacco health warnings should feature pictures of dead people. At least that’s the practice in the progressive places cited by the agency, including the Cook Islands, Djibouti, Egypt, Iran, Jordan, Latvia, Malaysia, Mauritius, Mongolia, Pakistan, Panama, Paraguay, and Romania. (more…)