Court: Tobacco health labels constitutional
Source: Reuters
By Terry Baynes
Mon Mar 19, 2012 6:41pm EDT
(Reuters) - A U.S. law requiring large graphic health warnings on cigarette packaging and advertising does not violate the free speech rights of tobacco companies, a federal appeals court ruled on Monday.
Cigarette makers had sued to stop the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's new labeling and advertising requirements on grounds the rules violated their First Amendment right to communicate with adult tobacco consumers.
But the Cincinnati-based U.S. Court of Appeals for the 6th Circuit upheld the bulk of the FDA's new regulatory framework, including the requirement that tobacco companies include large warning images on cigarette packs.
The decision comes on the heels of a Washington, D.C., judge's ruling in a different, but related, case that rejected the FDA requirements and seems to set up a clash over the constitutionality of the FDA rules.
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Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/03/19/us-tobacco-labels-idUSBRE82I0VX20120319
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