Warning labels that will be required to be displayed on cigarette packs in the United States beginning September 2012 haven't found much support among Nebraska newspapers at this point. The Daily Nebraskan criticized the cigarette pack warning labels with a staff editorial published this week.

"We're informed adult consumers; we know what we're getting into if we choose to smoke," the Daily Nebraskan wrote. "We object to these labels because they're insulting and unhelpful."

Of the warning labels, which can be viewed here, an FDA news release said,

“President Obama is committed to protecting our nation’s children and the American people from the dangers of tobacco use. These labels are frank, honest and powerful depictions of the health risks of smoking and they will help encourage smokers to quit, and prevent children from smoking,” said Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius. “President Obama wants to make tobacco-related death and disease part of the nation’s past, and not our future.” 

Federal health officials are unveiling graphic new smoking warning labels that will be required on all packs of cigarettes sold in Nebraska and nationwide beginning in September of 2012, as reported by the Nebraska Radio Network.

The new labels will cover 50-percent of the front and back of the cigarette packages, and there will have to be labels on 20-percent of all cigarette advertising.

Tobacco use is the leading cause of premature and preventable death in the United States, and claims almost half a million lives each year, according to the FDA. Requiring larger, more prominent warnings on cigarette packaging and advertisements is part of a broader strategy to help tobacco users quit and prevent young people from starting.  The new warnings serve as reminder of the negative health consequences of smoking every time someone picks up a pack of cigarettes or views a cigarette advertisement.