SBM Releases Policy Statement on New Cigarette Warning Labels

Representing many of the nation’s leading tobacco control scientists, and clinical and public health practitioners, the Society of Behavioral Medicine (SBM) and the Society for Research on Nicotine & Tobacco (SRNT) welcome the historic June, 2011 Food and Drug Administration (FDA) rule on new warning labels for cigarettes. In response to this new rule, SBM and SRNT have released the policy statement, SBM and SRNT Urge Increased Funding of Quitlines and Research to Maximize Public Health Benefits of 1-800-QUIT-NOW on Cigarette Packs.

With this new rule, the United States will join more than 18 countries across the world that include quitline telephone numbers along with hard-hitting graphic messages as part of the health warning labels for tobacco products. These enhanced health warnings with the quitline number are designed to discourage more nonsmokers from starting to smoke, to encourage more smokers to quit, and to increase their use of evidence-based tobacco cessation services available at no-cost from state quitlines.

View the full brief here (PDF).

Read other policy briefs and statements on the Policy Statements webpage.