In case you didn't get the message: smoking cigarettes is dangerous for your health. Since a picture is worth a thousand warnings words, the Food and Drug Administration is proposing the placement of graphic images on cigarette packages. The agency hopes the grisly images — corpses, cancer patients, and diseased lungs — will deter people from smoking. Tobacco use is responsible for 443,000 Read more

French women don't get fat, but you don't want to steal one of their secrets to staying slim. As more French men quit cigarettes, French women continue to light up, citing fears that quitting would lead to weight gain. Today, The Daily Beast explains, more French women die from lung cancer than ever before, and it may soon be their number one cause of death. French antitobacco ads are targeting Read more

One cigarette a month may not feel like a habit, but it can still get you hooked on nicotine. That's according to a study of adolescent smokers published in Pediatrics, which suggests that teens' experimentation with the occasional cigarette can lead to a lifetime of addiction. The four-year study started with 1,246 middle school students and found that those who smoked even one cigarette a Read more

Could a bright and colorful package convince you to put your health at risk and smoke cigarettes? Tobacco companies sure hope so, as they shift their strategy to focus on young women in developing countries. Men make up 80 percent of the world's 1 billion smokers, so now it's time to move on to the ladies. In addition to "feminine" packaging and flavored cigarettes, big tobacco uses themes like Read more

Until recently, the health warnings on US tobacco products have been incredibly subtle compared to cigarette packs in Europe, which are often as blunt as "smoking kills." But thanks to the tobacco law passed last year, US advertising is catching up with bigger, bolder warnings on tobacco products. The New York Times got its hands on a new ad for Snus smokeless tobacco (above), which follows new Read more

The copy for this ad doesn't really make much sense. This scowling man says he doesn't care about the length of his cigarette, but then goes on to declare that Winston Super Kings give him the extra length he wants. So, maybe in the end size does matter? I'm confused. Source Read more

The FDA sees flavored cigarettes as a gateway drug, encouraging children and young adults to become regular smokers. So a new federal law enacted this Summer, which bans the production, distribution, or sale of flavored cigarettes goes into effect today. This includes clove and candy- and fruit-flavored cigarettes — anything but minty-fresh menthol. Tobacco companies enhance cigarettes with Read more

Smoking regular cigarettes is known to cause a whole slew of health problems from asthma to emphysema and lung cancer. For some reason though, people keep smoking, so someone came up with the brilliant idea to make electronic cigarettes, also known as e-cigarettes. These battery-powered electronic cigarettes provide inhaled doses of nicotine, although no flame, tobacco, or smoke is involved. Read more