Ruling AGAINST New Warning Labels

Yesterday, US District Court Judge Richard Leon (Washington DC) granted a preliminary injunction to tobacco companies....ruling that the FDA warning labels violate the First Amendment. Judge Leon's decision centered around the message coupled with graphic images on the warning labels that were due to hit selves on Sept. 2012. The labels were declared unconstitutional, as doing more than providing factual information. This ruling means that tobacco companies do NOT have to use the new warning labels until the case is resolved.

The next logical step will be that the Justice Department will file an appeal, which makes it unclear exactly what the impact of this decision will be.

Congress instructed the FDA to require the labels, following the lead of the Canadian regulations that require similarly graphic imagines on cigarettes packs. In 2009, Congress approved the law with broad, bipartisan support. This law gave the FDA the authority to regulate tobacco products.

Is this a "set back"? Yes and no. Yes, because we were expecting the warning labels to provide a powerful incentive for smokers to take the life-saving step of quitting and for kids never to try that first cigarette. No, because the Justice Department was expecting the ruling based on Judge Leon's views and sympathy for tobacco companies. The next step is to appeal and let the US Court of Appeals hear the argurements.

TO BE CONTINUED...........................