Jump to full article: New York Times Blogs, 2009-06-24
Author: Jennifer 8. Lee - City Room Blog -
Intro: The city's Department of Health and Mental Hygiene has introduced a new proposal [pdf] that would require the 12,000 or so cigarette retailers in the city to put large antismoking signs at the cash register and where the cigarettes are displayed, the first such regulation in the United States.
"It's really about getting them at the point-of-sale moment," said Sarah B. Perl, the health department’s assistant commissioner for tobacco control.
Cigarette advertising dominates the retail outlets, and the city wants to balance that message. "We want them to also think about the consequences about what it will do to them," Ms. Perl said.
Similar sign requirements have been made in Canada, New Zealand and Australia, she said, but these would be the first with a graphic element. They have found visually displaying gruesome health effects -- like amputations and throat cancer -- have been the most effective way to generate calls from New Yorkers who want to quit.
The images will be rotated so they can stay "fresh, crisp and impactful," said Ms. Perl, who noted people have become inured to the surgeon general's warning on cigarette packs because it has not changed since it has never changed. . . .
"This type of signage which communicates purely factual information about a commercial transaction is legal," she said.
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