RICHMOND, Va. — Rotting teeth and gums. Diseased lungs. A sewn-up corpse of a smoker. Smoke coming out of the tracheotomy hole in a man’s neck.

Cigarette packs in the U.S. will have to carry these macabre images in nine new warning labels that are part of a Food and Drug Administration campaign to use fear and disgust to discourage Americans from lighting up.

Additional Photos

This is one of the explicit graphics that Canada uses for cigarette pack labels. Other countries have used such warnings for years, and various studies suggest they spur people to quit. Their effectiveness is up for debate, though, since the images are usually accompanied by other anti-smoking efforts. The Associated Press

The labels, announced Tuesday, represent the biggest change in cigarette packs in the U.S. in 25 years.

At a time when the drop in the nation’s smoking rate has come to a standstill, the government is hoping the in-your-face labels will go further than the current surgeon general warnings toward curbing tobacco use, which is responsible for about 443,000 deaths a year in the U.S.

“These labels are frank, honest and powerful depictions of the health risks of smoking,” Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said in a statement.

The FDA estimates the labels will cut the number of smokers by 213,000 in 2013, with smaller additional reductions through 2031.

Other countries such as Canada and Uruguay have used graphic, even grisly, warnings for years, and various studies suggest they spur people to quit. But exactly how effective they are is a matter of debate, since the warnings are usually accompanied by other government efforts to stamp out smoking.

“It’s a great deterrent for kids,” said Kristen Polland, 24, of Prattville, Ala. “If you start there, you have won half of the battle.”

Rhonda Vanover, 43, of Cincinnati, on the other hand, said: “No one is going to stop me – unless they make it illegal. Cigarettes get me through the day. They are part of my life.”

The warnings will take up the entire top half – both front and back – of a pack of cigarettes. Cigarette makers have until the fall of 2012 to comply.

The labels’ legality is being challenged in a federal lawsuit brought by some of the major tobacco companies, which argue that the warnings will relegate the brand name to the bottom half of the package, making it difficult or impossible to see.

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