Worth More Than A Thousand Words:
Picture-Based Tobacco Warning Labels and Language Rights in the U.S.
By POWER, the Tobacco Free Coalition, and the DataCenter
February 2007
Cigarette smoking kills one out of two long-term users, making tobacco consumption one of the most important public health issues for nations all over the world. At the same time, addiction to tobacco products has made transnational tobacco one of the most profitable industries in the global economy. Years of deception and misinformation have created a huge gap in public awareness of the harmful effects of tobacco products. Working class and immigrant communities throughout the United States are at once targeted by the tobacco industry as consumers, and often barred from access to public health warnings as a result of English-only text-based warning labels. One of the most successful and cost-effective policy initiatives to eliminate this gap is the use of picture-based tobacco warning labels. This report summarizes the history and current status of tobacco warning labels in the United States, describes the problem of language discrimination and the international trend toward picture-based warning labels, and details recommendations for legislative action.
Download the full report; 24 pages (PDF) in English, Spanish, Chinese. – This report is currently offline. Please click here to contact POWER: People Organized to Win Employment Rights for your copy today.