The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has unveiled hard-hitting, graphic new cigarette warning labels that will be required on cigarette packs after October 22, 2012. The labels show corpses, a man smoking through a tracheostomy, pictures of diseased lungs, a bedridden man suffering from end-stage cancer, rotten teeth, a man in the throes of a heart attack, a woman blowing smoke in a baby's face and similar depictions meant to show the actual physical effects of smoking. The graphics will be accompanied by stronger messages about the health effects of smoking, including "WARNING: Tobacco smoke causes fatal lung disease in nonsmokers," "WARNING: Cigarettes are addictive," "WARNING: Cigarettes cause cancer," and "WARNING: Smoking can kill you." The labels will be required to take up half the cigarette pack. The FDA has made the 36 potential warning labels (pdf) public and is seeking public comment to choose the nine that will adorn tobacco packs. Similar labels are already in use in many foreign countries. The new, more graphic labels are a requirement of the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act signed by President Obama in June, 2009, which for the first time allows the FDA to exert some regulation over tobacco.

Pacific Gas and Electric Company's executive in charge of its "SmartMeter" program got caught using a fake name to try and join an Internet talk list operated by people who are fighting installation of the new meters. PG&E, which provides natural gas and electricity to most of Northern California, has installed 7.1 million wireless "SmartMeters" on properties throughout central and northern California. The meters record power consumption and report the information back to the utility at least daily. The power company touts the meters a stepping stone to an improved, more flexible electricity grid, but consumers complain that their monthly utility bills spiked after installation of the meters, and have expressed concern about exposure to the meters' electromagnetic fields. William Devereaux, the senior director of PG&E's $2.2 billion SmartMeter program, posed as an anti-smart meter consumer using the fake name "Ralph" to try to gain admission to the online discussion group for people trying to block use of the SmartMeters. Devereaux used his usual email address, which appeared next to his name, and the list moderator recognized him.