A London-based think tank argued in November 2004 that sport utility vehicles should carry mandatory warnings similar to those printed on European cigarette packs, placing the environmental and health costs of the vehicles squarely in front of buyers.
The New Economics Foundation proposed phrases such as "Global warming kills" and "Climate change can seriously damage your health" for labels to be fixed to the hoods and sides of SUVs. The group said the vehicles accounted for a disproportionate share of CO2 emissions, air pollutants, and road fatalities, yet were growing in popularity: one in four new cars sold in the United States at the time was an SUV, and one in seven in Britain.
The foundation cited World Health Organization projections that road transport would rank as the third most common cause of death and disability worldwide by 2020. It argued that regulations to curb greenhouse gas output had not worked and that, as with tobacco, public shaming through "emotive content" could change behavior.
The campaign was timed ahead of an international climate conference in Buenos Aires. The foundation pointed to General Motors' Hummer as an extreme example: priced from above $50,000 in the US market, the vehicle returned roughly 10 miles per gallon.
Historical summary. TurkishPress restated this AFP wire report, first published in November 2004, in its own words.