Kicking the Habit
Earlier this week, the FDA released a proposition called the Required Warnings for Cigarette Packages and Advertisements. This ruling will require one of nine graphic color imagines on cigarette packs and ads, depicting the harmful physical effects of smoking. On cigarette packs, the graphic must take up at least 50% of the box and on print ads, 20% of the total space. All packs and advertisements would also include a warning phrase, like "Tobacco smoke can harm your children" or "Cigarettes cause cancer." To see the complete set of images visit http://www.fda.gov/downloads/TobaccoProducts/Labeling/CigaretteProductWarningLabels/UCM232425.pdf
The American Council on Drug Education estimates that 47 million Americans are smokers, or about 23% of adults. Kathleen Sebelius, Secretary of Health and Human Services, says that smoking-related illnesses and 2nd-hand smoke-related illnesses are the leading cause of preventable deaths in the U.S, 1,000 per day.
Just 20 minutes after you quit, your blood pressure drops. At 24 hours, your risk of a heart attack fails. At 3 months, lung function improves.
Physical therapy is physically taxing without the added stress smoking puts on the body. As a PT, do you feel it is your place to encourage patients who smoke to quit? Do you think these slogans and graphics will incite smokers to stop? Or they will be better at convincing people to never pick up the habit? Do you think we've become so desensitized to graphic images that these won't be shocking?