I was traveling abroad and noticed that outside the United States, cigarette packages include really graphic, scary images– things like diseased lungs, rotting teeth, a guy smoking through a hole in his throat. So, how well do these images work to get people to stop smoking? And does this exist in the United States? Last question first: Cigarette packages in the US don't have graphic images yet, but they will soon. The FDA announced that by 2012, cigarettes for sale in the United States have to include 1/9 graphic images of the sort our listener mentioned. As for the first question how well do the images work to deter smokers there's some evidence that they may work quite well. For example, Canada has required graphic images on cigarette packs for more than a decade. And smoking there has declined from 24% of the population to about 18%. Of course, it's difficult to know how much of the decrease in smoking was due to graphic images, and how much was due to other factors such as increased cigarette taxes.