Last fall the FDA proposed a host of new cigarette labels ; today the agency announced its final selections, as the Wall Street Journal reports . While some of the nine new labels — including the one to the right — offer graphic depictions of the consequences of smoking, others focus on the impact secondhand smoke can have on other people, such as unborn fetuses, kids and nonsmoking relatives. One label notes that “quitting smoking now greatly reduces serious risks to your health.” The larger, more explicit warnings were required by a 2009 law that also banned candy- and fruit-flavored cigarettes and descriptions of cigarettes as “low-tar” and “light.” When we talked last fall to Jonathan Whiteson, medical director of NYU Langone Medical Center’s cardiac and pulmonary wellness and rehabilitation program, about the 36 proposed labels , he emphasized that shocking images, in his experience, need

to be paired with more positive messages about the value of quitting. Some of New York City’s explicit new anti-smoking ads , for example, couple dinnertime-inappropriate surgery footage with the message that smoking-related health conditions and disease risks start to wane soon after quitting. Last week we asked readers whether the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network’s three-pronged anti-tobacco strategy — higher tobacco taxes, better funding of tobacco cessation and prevention programs and laws banning smoking in the workplace, restaurants and bars — is the best way to reduce smoking. Right now about 21% of Americans smoke, and that rate hasn’t budged in a few years. Today we want to hear from smokers: Are these new labels likely to make you stop and think? If not, what would make you quit? Image: Associated Press

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Reader Consult: Would These Labels Make You Quit Smoking?