Re-inventing cigarette warning labels is becoming a nasty habit

The Food and Drug Administration has come a long way, baby, when it comes to upgrading warning labels for cigarettes.

First, the agency mandated the placement of printed warning labels on cigarette pack side panels.

Next, it banned ad campaigns portraying cowboys as Marlboro smokers, healthy young couples picnicking in pastures as Salem smokers, and young, fiesty "I'd rather fight than switch" pugilists as Lucky Strike smokers.

Starting next year, the FDA will require cigarette packs to carry graphic health risk photos, ranging from a photo of a guy taking a smoke break through his trachea hole, to a sewn-up cadaver and a photo of a sooty lung covered lobe-to-lobe with lima bean-sized tumors.

The pictures are so graphic and gruesome, comedian Bill Maher has called on the government to provide warning labels for the warning labels.

While I'm all in favor of people giving up tobacco, I'm not convinced that the new warning labels are going to do much to achieve that goal -- although it may get people to temporarily give up overeating -- another popular public health issue.

First of all, it's hard to imagine that anyone in the United States isn't already keenly aware that smoking is a health hazard that can cause irreparable harm to some very useful parts of the human body.