One Good Thing Out of Britain?

From the country that gave the world package holiday tours, the worst Rock bands of all time, kinky F1 CEOs and poodle politicians, finally comes a good (?) thing: Visual warnings on cigarette packs!

Britain’s 10 million smokers will find gruesome images of rotting teeth, tarred up lungs and throat cancer tumors appearing on their cigarette packs from next months, in a new phase of government’s anti-smoking campaign.

Drill, baby, drill!

The stomach-turning images will supplement written health warnings which the UK Department of Health introduced 5 years ago. Up to 90,000 premature deaths are caused by smoking in England alone each year.

To influence the ‘macho’ instincts of British male smokers, the photos also depict male impotence by way of a flaccid cigarette. “These new stark picture warnings emphasize the harsh realities of continuing to smoke,” the government’s chief medical officer said.

The rules of a 2001 European Union directive on tobacco health warnings, clearly influenced by the powerful tobacco industry, dictates what type of images can be displayed on cigarette packs.

Smoking in enclosed public spaces was banned in Britain only in July 2007. Reuters reported.

The Captions read: (Top) – Smoking causes fatal lung cancer; (above) – Smoke contains benzene, nitrosarnines, formaldehyde and hydrogen cyanide.