For the last 25 years, every pack of cigarettes has carried a warning about the detrimental effects of smoking. Now the government is stepping it up a notch and turning to gruesome pictures to get their point across. The photos include emaciated cancer patients, diseased organs and corpses. Public health authorities and anti-smoking advocates hailed the move as a milestone in the battle against tobacco in the United States that began in 1964 when the surgeon general first declared cigarettes a public health threat. That battle made steady progress for decades, but has been stymied in recent years, with a stubborn one in five of adults and teens still smoking. And tobacco remains the leading cause of premature and preventable death in the country, causing 443,000 deaths each year and about one-third of all cancer deaths.

The new warnings will cover half the front and back of each pack and 20 percent of each large ad. The FDA will gather public comment on 36 proposed images until Jan. 9 and ultimately will select nine images to use. Beginning Oct. 22, 2012, any cigarette makers that do not put the new warnings on their packaging will not be allowed to sell their brands in the United States.