We all know that countries such as Canada, Australia, and the United Kingdom are required to add various disturbing pictures on cigarette packages to reduce people's dependence on tobacco as much as possible.

We all know that in countries such as Canada, , Australia, and the United Kingdom, cigarette packages are forced to add various disturbing pictures to reduce people's dependence on tobacco as much as possible.

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" However, a recent study found that putting picture warnings on cigarette packages has no impact on smoking habits, but will increase the chance of being hidden by 40%.

Scientists at the University of California, San Diego (UCSD) A recent study shows that putting graphic warnings on cigarette packages in the United States has no effect on the number of cigarettes smokers consume every day - but it makes them hide their cigarettes out of shame.

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The United States, like more than 120 countries including Canada, mandated the use of graphic warnings on cigarettes in 2009. However, the policy has faced significant opposition from the tobacco industry due to legal challenges. Implementation.

In response, UCSD scientists conducted a research experiment in which they gave American smokers cigarette packs with graphic warnings and monitored whether this made them more likely to hide the packs and quit smoking.

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Researchers found that after receiving cigarette packs with images of sick feet, deformed children and throat cancer , smokers continued to smoke about 10 cigarettes a day for up to a year but there was. 60% of people admitted that they had hidden their cigarette packs at some point because of the images, a 40% increase from before the study

The findings were published in a report led by JAMA Network Open. Dr John Pierce, a public health expert who led the study, said: "Picture warnings on cigarette packages have no impact on smoking behaviour. However, when cigarette packs were repackaged with pictorial warnings, the proportion of smokers who concealed their cigarette packs increased significantly from 41% to 57%.

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Initially, the researchers recruited about 400 smokers from the San Diego area. The average age of the participants was about 40 years old, and there were no immediate plans to quit smoking.

A third of the participants were in 3 Others received either blank cigarette packs or standard American cigarette packs during the 3-month study period. Participants were asked to report daily whether they had "at least "Sometimes" hid their cigarette packs, and how many cigarettes they had smoked.

Then, the scientists tracked them for another nine months while they were using regular cigarette packs.

In the group using packs with warning pictures In the other two groups, the proportion of hidden cigarette packs rose from 40% to 60%, and once they were allowed to buy cigarettes in regular packages again, the number dropped to 40%. In the other two groups, for comparison, it was about 40%. % of participants said they hid their packs "at least some of the time" throughout the study.

Smokers who used warning packs smoked around 11 cigarettes a day at the start of the trial, declining to that by the end. 9 . But scientists said the difference was not significant and could be due to other factors. In the other two groups, the average number of cigarettes consumed per day also dropped from 11 to 9.

Experts said. , they still recommend using graphic warnings because hiding cigarette packs can make teenagers less likely to smoke.

More than 120 countries have forced tobacco companies to put warnings about the side effects of smoking on their packages, but there is a growing body of research. suggests that as smokers become accustomed to the gruesome images, these warnings become less effective. A 2019 paper by

, which started using these warnings in Canada, found that about 36% of Canadian smokers found that. The images had "no" or "little" effect in motivating them to quit smoking.

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates indicate that there are approximately 31 million smokers in the United States, or 1 in 8 adults. That number is likely higher now because cigarette sales rose about 0.4% last year for the first time in 20 years.

Nowadays, the product that is more popular among young people seems to be electronic cigarettes. The number of young Americans using e-cigarettes has surged in 2021, with approximately 2.5 million using tobacco products.

In any case, smoking is indeed harmful to health, and its toxicity is even far more toxic than marijuana. Cherish life and stay away from tobacco; if you must smoke, remember not to let others smoke your second-hand smoke, which is even more harmful to health than the first-hand smoker himself.