Two main reasons. First, tobacco products, when used per manufacturer's instructions, cause cancer, emphysema, etc. Cakes, when taken in moderation do not make you sick at all, and when taken in large quantities at worst make you fatter than you'd otherwise be.

The second reason is that cakes are not unique in that over-indulging in them will make you fat. The same is true for most items in a typical American diet such as cheese, meat, bread, potatoes, pasta, any fried foods, most shellfish, etc. Unless you feel that you need Big Brother to tell you not to eat too much, there is no need for warning labels on cakes.
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Now hang on there, because I hope you mean fat-rich, sugar-rich and salt-rich store-bought cakes because my home make cakes are healthy and yummy!

Maybe one reason is because cakes can be good for you. Not all cakes are full of sugar or low in fiber, and someone with diabetes would appreciate my cottage cheese and date loaf with 2 eggs and honey.

Even healthy chocolate cake! Yes, here is the recipe :)
http://www.abc.net.au/health/healthyliving/dietrecipes/recipes/stories/2007/05/02/1913176.htm

I agree that over processed food can be bad for you but not all cakes are bad for you and eating some cake every now and then is OK

Now tobacco, I've never known it to provide a health benefit to humans although tobacco ash keeps insects away from my vegetable garden
- yep, just sprinkle some cigarette ash over your tomatoes and beans and the bugs hate it! They don't get into the fruit, the ash puts them off! Now that's handy but not 'healthy'

So keep your label to ingredients and quantities on cakes, that should be enough to guide a good shopper but no warnings please....I can make up my own mind.
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Cakes etc. are not unhealthy per se.

What's unhealthy is if that's all you eat, in which case it's still not the cakes that are causing the trouble... it's the *lack* of vitamins and minerals and fiber and proteins etc that you're not getting by eating *other* things.
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There is a fundamental difference between tobacco and cake (a food product).

Tobacco causes great harm without providing any benefits at all.

Food, on the other hand, is necessary for life. Even sweet treats like cake provide some nutritional benefit. Cake in itself does not have to be bad for us. It is overindulgence in such foods that is harmful. Plus careful choices of ingredients can produce a cake that provides valuable nutritional benefit, but even such a healthy cake should be eaten in moderation at it is likely to be high in sugar and fat content.

Perhaps a better policy (than warning labels) would be to better educate the public about basic nutrition.
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Is a Twinkie® technically a cake? There I think there may be some merit. Do not get me wrong. I love Twinkies. But, because I "believe" them to be harmful, I have not eaten one in years. Considering what else I've consumed, this is more than ridiculous. I miss Twinkies. But someone said they're bad. There is no warning label, yet I avoid them. Why is this? Thank you for giving me pause for thought!
Source(s):
Twinkie®

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If everything that had possible dangers associated with it in our lives had to have warning labels listing the specific dangers or health risks, we may as well give up on everything. Anything we touch or eat could be dangerous in the right situation.

Big brother does not have to have his sticky hands in everything. We should be able to make healthy decisions on our own.

There is a big difference though between cakes which do have healthier versions and some nutritional value depending on what kind and how they are made, and tobacco which poisons people and contaminates everything else.

Warning labels have not stopped millions of people from smoking, although they may have curtailed it a bit. What good would it do labeling desserts?

Warning labels seem to be there more for the legal aspect of a product, the fear of being sued than for a sincere concern over the welfare of the consumer.

Some labels have reached the beyond idiotic phase. But without them they leave themselves open for someone to come along and cry foul legally. We let the lawyers and government become babysitters for all of us. Sometimes we need to think for ourselves.

Here is an old classic song that touches on the subject of labels and signs and how crippling they can be, a commentary. Enjoy!

"Sign Sign everywhere a sign
Blocking out the scenery breaking my mind
Do this, don't do that, can't you read the sign ?"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fTH0JwMIMN8
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I love this question, and after much thinking I suppose there are a couple of reasons. For one thing you can make healthy cakes and stuff like that, I don't think there are any healthy tobaccos. Also the unhealthy parts with cakes and things tends to be in over indulging or eating them all the time, so you can have it once in a while and it isn't unhealthy in moderation. Tobacco is bad for you whether you are smoking or chewing it daily or once a month, and even when other people use it around you. Eating your cake isn't going to affect the person beside you.
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