Aussie Smokers Getting Eyeful with Each Inhale

While U.S. attempts to require tobacco companies to use graphic warning labels on cigarette cases are bogged down in court, Australian smokers are now face to face with unsettling images of what could happen if they continue smoking.

Smokers in the Land Down Under have been getting an eyeful of graphic packaging since Dec. 1 when a new law took effect requiring that 75 percent of the front of the case and 90 percent of the back is covered with the warning labels.

Government officials in Australia are expecting the labels to reduce smoking rates by 10-15 percent. Meanwhile, according to published reports smokers are finding ways to avoid having to view the labels and tobacco companies are concerned about other countries passing similar legislation.

The Aussie labels show lungs with emphysema, feet crippled by vascular diseases, skeletal lung cancer victims and up close images of mouth cancer among other images.

FDA efforts to require graphic labels on smoking cartons have been overturned by one federal judge but upheld by another and may end up in the Supreme Court. For more information on U.S. efforts to regulate tobacco click here.