The U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear a challenge from cigarette companies on Monday, Nov. 25, against a federal requirement that cigarette packages include graphic labels that warn of the health risks associated with smoking.
Tobacco company R.J. Reynolds and other companies appealed a lower court’s decision to uphold the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) mandate, which found the federal rule consistent with the First Amendment. The court agreed with the FDA that the warnings were “factually accurate.”
R.J. Reynolds unsuccessfully argued the FDA’s rule amounted to “compelled speech” and that violated the company’s free speech rights. The company claimed the proposed warnings “overstate” the health risks associated with smoking.
The proposed labels from the FDA consisted of images of tumors, blackened lungs and surgery scars, with messages about the health issues smoking can potentially cause. The FDA proposed the 13 warning labels in 2019 under the Trump administration.
The FDA accused cigarette companies of “knowingly and actively conspiring to deceive the public about the health risks and addictiveness of smoking.”
Around 120 countries already have large graphic warning labels on cigarette packages. The United States has not updated its labeling on cigarette packages since 1984.
The post US Supreme Court declines hearing Big Tobacco’s challenge to FDA labels appeared first on Straight Arrow News.
Click this link for the original source of this article.
Author: Lauren Taylor
This content is courtesy of, and owned and copyrighted by, https://straightarrownews.com and its author. This content is made available by use of the public RSS feed offered by the host site and is used for educational purposes only. If you are the author or represent the host site and would like this content removed now and in the future, please contact USSANews.com using the email address in the Contact page found in the website menu.
