Amicus brief supporting FDA warning labels

University of Pittsburgh’s Jurist Paper Chase last Friday reported Attorney Generals from 24 states & U.S. territories -- Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Connecticut, the District of Columbia, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Iowa, Maine, Maryland, Mississippi, Montana, New Hampshire, New Mexico, Ohio, Rhode Island, South Dakota, Utah, Vermont, the Virgin Islands, Washington and West Virginia-- filed an amicus brief in support of the FDA’s appeal of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit’s blocking the implementation of new FDA requirements mandating that all cigarette packages would have graphic warnings detailing the dangers of tobacco use back in November.

Jurist recounted that President Obama had signed the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act (FSPTCA) [HR 1256 text] in 2009, with the Food & Drug Administration (FDA) then mandating that by September 2012 all cigarette packaging contain new warning labels with graphic images of the health issues related to smoking and related textual warnings. A suit filed by the R.J. Reynolds Co. requested an injunction [ complaint ] on the basis that the new regulations violated their First Amendment rights and burdened their right to commercial speech by compelling placement of the new warning labels on the top 50 and bottom 20 percent of all packaging & advertisements. The District of Columbia Circuit agreed.