Regarding the FDA’s new required “design” for cigarette packaging, CNN this week posed the question:

“Are the images effective, or do they go too far?”

Any guess on my answer?  Most of us– or perhaps I should say most of us who live life enjoyably– do things we know full well are dangerous, unhealthy or just somehow “bad” for us, but we choose to do them anyway.  Think about this– it could be just about anything.

Personally, I am not a cigarette smoker, not because they might kill me, but simply for the fact I happen to dislike their taste and smell.  Still, cigarette smoking is legal, and sufficient health warnings already exist on the packaging.  Need smokers be reminded, again, of something most of them certainly already know?  The fact that other countries already have such packaging should not instantly justify the use of it in this country.  And let’s not argue second-hand risks in this instance.  The packaging is still there for smokers alone inside their own homes.

I appreciated an e-mailer’s input to a news program this week:  “What’s next?  Fat people on donut boxes?”