government
Tobacco companies ask for injunction against graphic warnings
NEWS IN BRIEF — Posted Oct. 24, 2011
A judge is expected to decide by November whether to temporarily ban a new guideline requiring graphic warning labels on cigarette packages.
Five tobacco companies, including Reynolds American, asked a judge on Sept. 21 for an injunction against the requirement while their legal challenge against the warnings proceeds. The companies say the graphic warnings are unfair and would require millions of dollars in equipment to print the new warnings.
The Food and Drug Administration is requiring tobacco manufacturers to start placing the graphic warnings on cigarette packages by September 2012. The pictures include an image of a man smoking through a tracheotomy hole and a dead man with a surgery-scarred chest.
Note: This item originally appeared at http://www.ama-assn.org/amednews/2011/10/24/gvbf1024.htm.