Graphic Anti-Smoking Labels Ruled Illegal

[slimvictor]

The Obama administration's push to require larger and more graphic warning labels on cigarettes, with images of dead or diseased smokers, hit a potentially fatal roadblock Wednesday when a federal judge ruled them unconstitutional.

U.S. District Judge Richard Leon in Washington, D.C., who in November issued a temporary injunction against the labels that the Justice Department appealed, ruled that they "violate the First Amendment by unconstitutionally compelling speech."

The issue could end up at the U.S. Supreme Court, because Leon's decision conflicts with a January 2010 ruling by U.S. District Court Judge Joseph McKinley in Bowling Green, Ky., that upheld the labels' legality.

The Food and Drug Administration, given authority to regulate tobacco by Congress in 2009, approved nine graphic warnings that tobacco makers could rotate on cigarette packs beginning in September. The images, which would cover the top half of the front and back of each pack, include a corpse with chest staples on an autopsy table and a man breathing into an oxygen mask.

Matthew Myers of the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids said Leon's ruling that the "graphic images are neither factual nor accurate" is "incomprehensible," arguing that smoking causes fatal lung disease, cancer and heart disease.

cont at
http://yourlife.usatoday.com/health...aphic-images-on-cigarette-packages/53305978/1

 

[Mob Rules]

I swear we have this in canada just without all the politcal hub-bub

 

[Thorns Have Roses]

The link you posted doesn't work slim (says page not found).

Anyway, it should not surprise anyone if I say that I am quite pleased by this decision.

 

[slimvictor]

Thanks for the heads-up, Never Knows.
I replaced it.

 

[TheAppleCore]

*facepalm*

Thankfully someone had the sense to put this one to rest.

 

[LogicSoDeveloped]

I quit smoking in november, however, it was my decision to smoke. An ugly picture on the pack wouldn't have changed my mind. The government doesn't seem to realize that cigarettes are addictive-people don't smoke thinking that cigarettes won't cause health problems and those probably in the back of their minds. I've been using the electronic cigarette since the quit date and haven't had one since but I don't expect people that continue to smoke to get harassed and that is why I see this labeling as.

 

[rickolasnice]

We've had those images on our tobacco products for a long time in the UK..

Although, come to think of it, I can't remember if they're still on there.. and i only bought some yesterday.. hmm..

I don't see it as that much of a bad thing, if at all.. If it helped only a handful of people to quit.. that's a win..