Cigarettes: Freedom of choice?

In Australia cigarette-producers lost the case, trying to stop pictures from appearing on cigarette packs.

I really think that we are now crossing the line. In Holland we (for now) have the text ‘smoking will kill you’ on cigarette packs. But now that will change to pictures with green teeth or tumors, on the front of a package. It looks disgusting. Not that I hate people who have such diseases from smoking, but it shouldn’t appear on those packages. As if everyone smoking (maybe even a few) cigarettes will end up with a tumor, and die. A personal future is forced upon you when you buy cigarettes, ‘there’s no escaping this tumor, don’t buy cigarettes, for you will die’. Ofcourse people should be aware of health problems caused by smoking, but they should remain free to choose. I think 90% of the people who see such a picture will look away in disgust, when they see such a picture. That is taking away someone’s choice, it is too much. We all want to live our lives, experiencing as much freedom as possible. These pictures are like putting an electric charge on a beer bottle, he who tries to buy it will die. People should be advised not to buy cigarettes, not stopped from buying. Just to make things clear, I never smoked one cigarette in my whole life, I just saw this passing by in the newspaper. But this is wrong. Showing an improbable, terrible future of an innocent person trying to buy something of which he thinks makes him happy, is wrong. 

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