Massachusetts Tobacco Retailers Balk at Posting Black Lung Images

The graphic signs would also include information on smoking cessation.

July 07, 2010

BOSTON - The Massachusetts Department of Health is proposing to require tobacco merchants post photographs of cancerous lungs, the Boston Herald reports. The graphic signs also would have data on quitting smoking to "offset tobacco advertising during the decision-making process." Fines would be imposed for those tobacco retailers who fail to comply.

The department will host public hearings throughout the summer on the proposal, said Jennifer Manley, spokeswoman for the Department of Public Health.

Tobacco retailers and smoking advocates are strenuously objecting to the proposal. Stephen Helfer, head of Cambridge Citizens for Smokers?? Rights, called into question the authenticity of the lungs on posters in New York City. "The determination was never made" that the blackened lungs and yellowed teeth in those photographs actually were from a smoker, he said. "These images most probably will be (altered) to look worse than they really are."

Also opposed to the proposal is the International Premium Cigar & Pipe Retailers Association (IPCPR), which labels such photographs as "propaganda pictures." Part of the reason for the opposition is the fact that the requirement would use up $316,000 in federal stimulus funds.

"What??s next? Are we going to put images of gruesome car accidents in liquor stores around Massachusetts?" said Chris McCalla, IPCPR legislative director.

Tobacco retailers agree that the posters will unnecessarily intrude on their space. "We sell pleasure," said Stephen Willett, owner of L.J. Peretti Co. "People don??t like to be told what to do."

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