Panel’s ruling a boost to anti-smoking warnings

The Washington Times ^ | March 19, 2012 | Cheryl Wetzstein

[Tolerance Sucks Rocks]

The federal government can require tobacco companies to “reserve significant packaging space” for anti-smoking warnings and graphic images on their cigarette labels, a three-judge appellate panel ruled Monday.

“We return to where we began — the lack of consumer awareness of tobacco’s serious health risks resulting from the decades-long deception by tobacco companies,” Judge Jane Branstetter Stranch of the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Cincinnati wrote in a ruling that was unanimous in some sections and 2-1 in others.

Current tobacco-label warnings do not effectively inform consumers on these health risks, even though they include “the undisputed fact that plaintiffs’ products literally kill users and, often, members of the families of users,” she wrote.

Consequently, “we hold that the act’s warnings are reasonably related to the government’s interest in preventing consumer deception and are therefore constitutional.”

The act refers to the 2009 Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act, which authorized the Food and Drug Administration to create anti-smoking messages and graphic warnings that must prominently appear on cigarette packages and in tobacco advertising. FDA-approved images include a human cadaver, diseased lungs and a man with smoke coming out of a hole in his neck, as well as warnings that say “Cigarettes cause fatal lung disease” and “Tobacco smoke can harm your children.

The circuit court’s ruling is opposite that of U.S. District Court Judge Richard J. Leon, who, in a related case, said in February the FDA labeling rules were unconstitutional because they “compelled” certain speech. Judge Leon’s ruling is being appealed, with oral arguments scheduled in April.

[Tolerance Sucks Rocks]

Nanny State PING!

[Alamo-Girl]

Thanks for the ping!

[Venturer]

There is no one alive today who has not heard that smoking can cause Cancer.

All of these warnings are wasted , because no one pays any attention to them.
Pictures of dead people eaten up with cancer attached to the pack, will not stop the true smoker from smoking.

They simply choose to take their own chance.

[TigersEye]

I buy my tobacco in five pound bags.
Lots of room for propaganda but none on it. lol

[Chode]

yet they stopped a company from producing "DEATH" brand cigarettes with a skull and crossbones on the front... go figure

[piytar]

“We return to where we began — the lack of consumer awareness of tobacco’s serious health risks resulting from the decades-long deception by tobacco companies,” Judge Jane Branstetter Stranch of the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals

What planet does thi judge live on? Because on this planet, everyone knows smoking has "health risks," namely it can and does kill people.

Just wow.

[Mortrey]

“Judge Jane Branstetter Stranch of the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Cincinnati”.

If people gave up smoking, this b*tch would complain about children’s healthcare being under-funded. (don’t cigarette taxes go for that in Cincinnati? They do in Georgia.)

Maybe she’d be happier with the sale of aborted fetuses’ body parts for extra income to the state...it’s the democrat way of doing things.

[Jack Hammer]

‘“We return to where we began — the lack of consumer awareness of tobacco’s serious health risks resulting from the decades-long deception by tobacco companies,” Judge Jane Branstetter Stranch of the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Cincinnati wrote in a ruling that was unanimous in some sections and 2-1 in others.’

Yeah, as if there were ANYONE ON PLANET EARTH who hasn’t heard this yet.

[CSM]

I fear for our Republic. It is nearly extinct.

[Still Thinking]

Current tobacco-label warnings do not effectively inform consumers on these health risks, even though they include “the undisputed fact that plaintiffs’ products literally kill users and, often, members of the families of users,” she wrote.

Their "reasoning" must go something like this:

"We've had the current generation of [text] warnings on cigarettes for decades now. Smoking is down, yet lots of people still make the choice we think is wrong, and WE'RE the government! The only possible explanation is that the facts haven't been presented to these people. The idea that someone could be fully informed and evaluate the risks differently or assign different values to the outcomes than we do is simply inconceivable!"

[ichabod1]

Tobacco has never killed anyone in the history of the world.