Required warning labels on cigarettes entered into the policy debate again with a September announcement from the FDA that it was opening a public comment period and online study to look at the warnings’ effectiveness.
In a Sept. 14, 2017, posting, the FDA said it plans to assess the text in different warning statements to see if changes would “promote greater public understanding of the negative health consequences of cigarette smoking.”
The online study will ask 1.2 million participants to view and comment on the nine warning statements currently used by the FDA, as well as 15 revised warning statements. The study will not, however, ask about graphic-image warning labels.
"This current phase of the research is an effort by FDA to collect data concerning revised, textual warning statements that may later be used with new images as part of cigarette graphic health warnings," the statement read. "In the future, FDA will conduct research pairing warning statements with images."