Saturday, November 13, 2010

Graphic warnings on cigarette packages are a good idea!

The FDA (U. S. Food and Drug Administration) wants to "feature vivid images as part of the war against smoking" onto all packages of cigarettes.  One picture has shows a man smoking a cigarette with smoke coming out through a hole in his throat with a "WARNING:  Cigarettes are addictive", while another shows the foot of a corpse with the caption, "WARNING:  Cigarettes cause fatal lung disease."  A third picture shows a frail pale man in a bed with the caption, "WARNING:  Cigarettes cause cancer."  The fourth image shows a mouth of an adult holding a baby with smoke in floating through the air with the "WARNING:  Tobacco smoke can harm your children."  An article about these graphic warnings with the fore mentioned pictures appeared on the front page of  the Thursday, November 11th edition of the St. Petersburg (Florida) Times.  I applaud the FDA on this plan.  This should have been done many many years ago!

What we really need is a law that denies any health insurance or any kind of financial assistance to smokers and former smokers for any treatment for damage to body parts, tissue and/or organs caused by smoking.  The same should be true for anyone who drinks alcohol.  Sure, I have said that as Americans we should have the freedom to choose to smoke or drink if we want to.  It is their decision to pick up the cigarette or bottle.  So it should follow that any damage caused to their bodies due to these choices should be the sole financial responsibility of that person.  If they can't afford it, IT WAS THEIR CHOICE to smoke, so they will need to deal with the resulting consequences.  Why should we have to pay for their poor judgement?  Come on, we have known about the dangers and addictiveness of smoking and drinking for decades!   Let's put a stop to the lawsuits and put the blame where it belongs, on the person who chose to smoke or drink!  The U. S. taxpayer has to pay enough without having to pay for foolish choices people make.

I will admit that I am not without flaws.  I have a weakness for pizza, Big Mac's, Whopper's, Cokes, potato chips and just about anything that involving chocolate.  However, after peaking at 210 pounds, I have decided to reduce my consumption of these things and try to eat healthier and to exercise regularly.  I am proud to say that I am now averaging about 190 pounds.  I realize what my bad habits are doing to me and am trying to change my habits.  At 51 years old, I have decided that my next fifty years are going to be better than the first fifty!  Keep an eye on this blog as I am sure that you will hear more about my struggle if the news is good.  If you don't hear anything, feel free to give me a kick in the butt and tell me to shape up.

1 comment:

  1. Where you see a white box, it should say, "This should have been done years ago!"

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