Judge Orders FDA To Hasten Action Requiring Companies To Display Graphic Health Warnings On Cigarette Packs
The judge is giving the FDA until late in September to finalize warnings that were mandated in 2009.
The Associated Press:
Judge Orders Quick Action On Graphic Cigarette Warnings
A federal judge is ordering the Food and Drug Administration to quickly finish writing a rule requiring graphic warnings on cigarette packages and advertisements. Judge Indira Talwani in Boston said Wednesday the FDA hasn't worked fast enough to issue new requirements after previous graphic warnings were struck down in 2012 when challenged by tobacco companies. (9/5)
Boston Globe:
Mass. Judge Rules That FDA ‘Unlawfully Withheld’ Action To Require Graphic Cigarette Warnings
Her decision came in a lawsuit filed in October 2016 in Boston by eight groups representing pediatricians, cancer and heart specialists, and antitobacco activists, along with three Massachusetts pediatricians. The suit asked the court to order the FDA to comply with the 2009 law. ... In 2011, the FDA proposed a series of dramatic photos, including images of rotting teeth, curdled and blackened lungs, and a man exhaling cigarette smoke through a tracheotomy hole in his neck. But the agency was barred from using those images after legal challenges from the tobacco industry. (McDonald, 9/5)
