If the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has its way, warning labels on cigarette packs and advertisements are about to get a lot more grisly this fall.
Under the 2009 Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act, which for first time gave the FDA the authority to regulate tobacco products, cigarette makers will be forced to cover half of all cigarette packs and 20% of all advertisements with one of nine graphic warning labels selected by the federal agency. The grim images on the labels include depictions of a smoker’s corpse, diseased lungs, and mottled and stained teeth and gums damaged by smoking.
The warning labels are currently hung up in the courts, however. Five tobacco companies are suing the government on the grounds that the new labels — which the companies argue are designed to provoke an emotional response and further the governments’ anti-smoking agenda, rather than simply conveying information to consumers — tread on their First Amendment right to free speech.
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