Health Department's Latest Graphic Anti-Smoking Campaign

Following in the tradition of showing one smoker's missing fingers and a smoker with a removed larynx, the Health Department continues with graphic images to scare smokers into quitting: New matchbooks show decaying gums and teeth (we've obscured the image, in case there are people eating... click here for full image). Other image include "ravaged lungs... painful tumors." Health Commissioner Dr. Thomas Friedan said, “Throat cancer, gum disease, blackened lungs – these are the realities of smoking. Many countries put these images right on the cigarette pack, where they belong. While the US hasn’t done this yet – and New York City is pre-empted from requiring cigarette package labels – we are putting these images where New Yorkers buy cigarettes, just before they light up, in the hope they’ll think twice about the decision to continue smoking.”