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.” 

Promoting smoke-free environments is a good thing, and so are efforts to keep kids from starting smoking, but requiring new cigarette warning labels goes too far, according to a MetroWest Daily News writer.

Rick Holmes, opinion editor for the Daily News, said in an opinion piece published by Nebraska City News-Press, that he used lots of tricks to help him quit: chewing toothpicks, chewing gum and taking a program to help him quit smoking.

"People who are trying to quit smoking need all the help they can get," Holmes said. "But they don't need to look at a corpse every time they reach for a cigarette."

Federal health officials have unveiled graphic new cigarette warning labels that will be required on all packs of cigarettes sold in Nebraska and nationwide beginning in September of 2012.

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.

Cigarette warning labels that will be required to be posted on cigarette packs beginning September 2012 is an example of government going too far, according to the publisher of the York News-Times.

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.

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. 

News-Times Publisher Greg Awtry asks whether it's fair to single out a business in the way that the new cigarette warning labels will.

"So what’s next, pictures of bloody butchered cows on your restaurant menu next to the rib-eye steak?" Awtry asks. "Pictures of drowned children at every public swimming pool? Maybe a picture of a dead tree on every newspaper? Ridiculous you say? Me too, but I would have thought that about a pack of cigarettes a couple weeks ago.

"In an age where few would disagree government has grown too large, too intrusive and too expensive, it seems there is little we can do to stop this insanity."

"If cigarettes are so bad," Awtry said, "then outlaw them."

In response to the FDA's unveiling new cigarette pack warnings Tuesday, the McCook Daily Gazette posed the question, "Do high prices beat graphic photographs?"

The Gazette says it's important to target teenagers, especially given that the drop in the teen smoking rate has stalled.

"A more effective tool seems to raising the prices" of cigarettes, the Gazette quotes Harold D. Holder of the Pacific Institute for Research and Evaluation as saying.

So, what's the answer to reducing smoking, the Gazette asks?

"Until we deal with the root causes -- and we don't see any immediate answers -- the problem is likely to continue," the Gazette says.

In the wake of Tuesday's unveiling by the FDA of cigarette pack warnings that highlight the health cost of cigarettes, the Omaha World Herald has posted an editorial cartoon that highlights another cost of cigarettes.

The Jeff Koterba cartoon asks, "A more effective way to curb smoking?" The answer, depicted as a cigarette pack warning, says, "WARNING: Cigarettes are harmful to your bank account."

Pictured above the warning is a smoker sitting by the side of a building with his hand out and a sign that reads, "I'm broke cuz I smoke. Please help!"

Tuesday the FDA unveiled cigarette pack warnings that will be required to be displayed on every pack of cigarettes beginning September 2012. The warnings show pictures that highlight the health impact of smoking.

Every 10 percent increase in the real price of cigarettes reduces overall cigarette consumption by about three to five percent. It reduces the number of young-adult smokers by 3.5 percent. And it reduces the number of kids who smoke by about six or seven percent.

Would you like to learn more about what works to reduce tobacco use ?

The Kearney Hub has posted an editorial supporting increasing Nebraska's cigarette tax and tax on other tobacco products.

The proposal, LB436, has been brought forward by Grand Island Senator Mike Gloor to increase Nebraska's cigarette tax and tax on other tobacco products. The Hub notes that the bill "would have taken a significant bite out of Medicare expenses and paid for anti-tobacco education."

The bill remains in the Nebraska Legislature's Revenue Committee, where it remains alive for next session.

(Please note: The editorial references LB246. The actual bill number is LB436.)