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Tag: warning labels

  • FDA Proposes New Graphic Health Warnings For Cigarettes

    FDA Proposes New Graphic Health Warnings For Cigarettes

    The current text warnings haven’t been updated since 1984.

    The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is renewing its push for updated warnings and graphic images on packs of cigarettes meant to catch people’s attention and ensure users know the risks of smoking tobacco products.

    The current text warnings haven’t been updated since 1984, and the FDA believes that they have long gone unnoticed by consumers. 

    “With these new proposed cigarette health warnings, we have an enormous public health opportunity to fulfill our statutory mandate and increase the public’s understanding of the full scope of serious negative health consequences of cigarette smoking,” said acting FDA Commissioner Ned Sharpless, MD, in a press release. “Given that tobacco use is still the leading cause of preventable disease and death in the U.S., there’s a lot at stake to ensure the public understands these risks.”

    The FDA believes that the current Surgeon General’s warnings that appear on cigarettes and product ads have become “virtually invisible to both smokers and nonsmokers” over the years. 

    Big Tobacco Pushes Back

    The agency made its first attempt to update these warnings with large, colorful graphics depicting health issues such as diseased lungs and cancerous neck tumors in June 2011.

    However, they were challenged in court by tobacco companies on the grounds that they were “crafted to evoke a strong emotional response,” which they argued violated their freedom of speech. The U.S. Court of Appeals of the District of Columbia sided with the cigarette makers in August 2012, and the FDA went back to the drawing board to create usable warning labels.

    According to AP News, eight health groups sued the FDA in 2016 when the new warning labels didn’t appear. Three years later, the agency is ready to finalize a new rule proposed on the 15th for warnings backed by research and designed to fill what FDA Tobacco Director Mitch Zeller called “significant gaps in [the public’s] understanding of all of the diseases and conditions associated with smoking.”

    Zeller believes the new designs will be able to weather any legal challenges.

    Currently, close to 120 countries have adopted the kind of graphic warnings the FDA is proposing, and studies have suggested that they work as intended. According to one study from 2014, graphic warnings “lowered intention to smoke in the future among those with a moderate lifetime smoking history (between 1 and 100 cigarettes), and they increased intention to quit smoking among those with a heavy lifetime smoking history (more than 100 cigarettes).”

    Deaths from smoking-related illnesses have remained high over the decades, and have actually increased among women, even as the percentage of Americans who smoke has decreased. It causes over seven million deaths worldwide every year and is the leading cause of preventable death.

    View the original article at thefix.com

  • In UK, Opioids Will Carry Addiction Warning

    In UK, Opioids Will Carry Addiction Warning

    “Things are not as bad here as in America, but we must act now to protect people from the darker side of painkillers.”

    Prescription opioids in the United Kingdom will carry a prominent warning about the risk of addiction following new recommendations from an opioid policy group.

    “I have been incredibly concerned by the recent increase in people addicted to opioid drugs,” health secretary Matt Hancock said in announcing the change, according to The Guardian.

    He continued, “Painkillers were a major breakthrough in modern medicine and are hugely important to help people manage pain alongside their busy lives – but they must be treated with caution. We know that too much of any painkiller can damage your health, and some opioids are highly addictive and can ruin lives like an illegal drug.”

    The policy decision is based on a recommendation from the United Kingdom’s Commission on Human Medicines, a group that makes recommendations in regards to opioids. The group recommended that the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency require manufacturers to label opioids with the warning. 

    “This is an important first step to help minimize the risks of addiction associated with opioid medicines, while supporting patients to get the right information at the right time to support their care,” said Dr. June Rain, director of the agency.

    In the UK, the prescription rates for opioids have risen 60 percent in ten years. The labeling effort is a way to get ahead of opioid abuse, Hancock said.

    “Things are not as bad here as in America, but we must act now to protect people from the darker side of painkillers,” he said. “We need to place a greater focus on making sure that these medicines are used appropriately and for pain management alone, and make sure people are fully aware of the risks.”

    England’s chief medical officer, Dame Sally Davies, said the warnings are an important way for patients to learn about the dangers of opioid pills.

    “We know that long-term use of painkillers can lead to life-altering and sometimes fatal addictions – so I am delighted to see measures put in place to raise awareness of the risks of codeine and prescribed drugs,” she said. “It is vital that anyone who is prescribed strong painkillers takes them only as long as they are suffering from serious pain. As soon as the pain starts to alleviate, the drugs have done their job, and it is important to switch to over-the-counter medications which do not carry the same risk of addiction.”

    In the United States, U.S. senators introduced legislation last fall that would require opioids to be labelled with a warning about their addictive nature. 

    “The path from one bottle of pills for patients who have had their wisdom teeth removed or experienced lower back pain to addiction needs as many roadblocks as possible, and a warning label could help save lives,” said Senator Ed Markey of Massachusetts, who sponsored the bill. “In the same way we put warning labels on cigarettes for being addictive and causing death, we need labels to caution patients about the dangers of prescription opioids. It is important that everyone who receives an opioid prescription understand the potential risks, and a sticker on an opioid pill bottle is a consistent reminder.”

    View the original article at thefix.com

  • Warnings Featuring Diseased Body Parts Make Smokers Think Twice

    Warnings Featuring Diseased Body Parts Make Smokers Think Twice

    A recent study aimed to find which features made picture warnings the most effective.

    When it comes to the effectiveness of warnings on tobacco products, a picture is worth a thousand words—particularly if that picture features a diseased or damaged body part caused by smoking.

    Those types of warnings are the most effective at getting smokers to try to quit, according to a study published this week in the journalTobacco Control. Previous research had shown that picture warnings are more of a deterrent than text-only warnings, like those currently used in the United States.

    This most recent study aimed to find which features made picture warnings the most effective, and found that those with damaged or diseased body parts and testimonials encouraged the most people to try and quit smoking.

    “Humans act in response to our emotions,” lead author Jazmyne Sutton told The Philadelphia Inquirer. “When we feel a negative emotion—fear, disgust, etc.—we want to avoid the source of that emotion.”

    In 118 countries—including Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom—governments mandate that tobacco is sold in packaging that features pictures of cancerous growths, surgical holes in throats, amputations, gangrenous feet and other health ailments that can be caused by tobacco use.

    “There has been tremendous progress internationally in implementing package health warnings, with many countries increasing warning size, more countries requiring picture warnings, and an increasing number of countries requiring multiple rounds of picture warnings,” wrote the authors of another recent report compiled by Canadian researchers. “The worldwide trend for larger, picture health warnings is growing and unstoppable, with many more countries in the process of developing such requirements.”

    Those researchers found that larger warning labels—those that cover at least half of the packaging—are most effective. Timor-Leste, Nepal and Vanuatu had the largest warnings, which covered more than 85% of tobacco packaging.

    In the United States, warning label requirements fall well behind many other countries, thanks in part to the still-powerful tobacco lobby. America had the smallest warning labels out of 206 countries reviewed by researchers.

    In 2009, Congress passed a law requiring the use of warning labels with photos. However, the implementation of the law has been hindered by a lawsuit from tobacco manufacturers and retailers.

    This fall, a court ruling ordered the FDA to speed up the process of implementing photo warnings. Proponents hope that this will help decrease the estimated 480,000 deaths caused by smoking each year, and reduce the number of Americans living with a smoking-related illness, currently estimated to be more than 16 million.

    View the original article at thefix.com