July 8th, 2008
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This news item is more than a year old. Links, graphics, content, medical information, and statistics may be out of date. We invite you to search, visit our homepage, or contact us to find more current information on the topic you're looking for.Anti-smoking advertisements have minimal impact
Sarah Staples, CanWest News Service
Published: Wednesday, January 25, 2006
Blackened lungs, cancerous throat tumours and other gruesome visions gross out non-smokers but not smokers. And "milder" images of smouldering ashtrays or pregnant women smoking don't have a measurable impact on anyone, according to preliminary results of the first neurological study on the impact of the Canadian government's anti-smoking campaign.
For the study, 12 young female volunteers had their brains scanned by magnetic resonance imaging to determine how they reacted to 15 different photos that appear on cigarette packs sold since 2001 together with slogans such as "cigarettes are highly addictive."
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