Tobacco warnings to be revamped

Washington: Dead bodies, diseased lungs and a man on a ventilator were among the graphic images for revamped US tobacco labels, unveiled yesterday by health officials who hope the warnings will help smokers quit.

Proposed in November under a law that put the multi-billion-dollar tobacco industry under the control of the US Food and Drug Administration, the new labels must be on cigarette packages and in advertisements no later than September 2012. These measures represent the first change in US cigarette warnings in 25 years.