Health Affairs July 31, 2024
In 2009, with the passage of the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act (TCA), the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for the first time gained limited authority to regulate tobacco. The TCA required the FDA to create graphic images of the health hazards of cigarette smoking, which were to be placed on the front and back of all cigarette packages and on advertising. The images are intended to inform the public, especially younger people facing the choice of whether to smoke, about the known risks of tobacco use. Research indicates the public no longer “sees” or is affected by the standard Surgeon General warning on packages, so graphic images alongside text warnings have become the global standard for publicizing...