A great question
We firmly support public awareness of the harms of smoking cigarettes, Kaelan Hollon, a spokesperson for tobacco company Reynolds American, told NPR , but the manner in which those messages are delivered to the public cannot run afoul of the First Amendment protections that apply to all speakers, including cigarette manufacturers. [It] is important for FDA to focus on providing information that can produce health benefits for the public, Hollon added, not merely reiterating well-known messages that smoking is dangerous, which the public already understands. Acting FDA commissioner Ned Sharpless, however, disagrees that these dangers are common knowledge, telling NPR that while most people assume, in this day and age, that the harms of smoking are pretty well understood by the public, this is not true. Still, even if the public does understand what smoking does to a persons health, knowing about those dangers and seeing them in graphic detail every time you reach for a cigarette are two different things and with cigarette smoking responsible for 480,ooo deaths in the U.S
casewhich marked the first time a corporation was charged with, and pleaded guilty to, providing material support to a terrorist organization
Mental Health Impact : Studies have found a link between nicotine use and increased symptoms of depression and anxiety in teens
