Grossing out the smokers

last updated 8 January 2015

Brussels

The European Union this week called for submissions of photographs of diseased lungs disgusting enough to scare people away from cigarettes. The E.U. plans to create a bank of photos that national governments can put on cigarette packs. By next October, cigarettes in most E.U. countries will carry warnings and nasty pictures covering at least one-third of the front of the pack and nearly half the back. “Health warnings illustrated with color pictures have proved that they are one of the most effective ways” to get people to stop smoking, said E.U. Health Commissioner David Byrne. Canadian cigarette packs already sport gory photos of blackened, cancer-ridden mouths and lungs, and 44 percent of Canadian smokers say the images make them want to quit.