Australia is the first country in the world to require this kind of packaging. The requirement starts December 1.
“The message to the rest of the world is big tobacco can be taken on and beaten,” Attorney General Nicola Roxon said in a statement to CNN.
“Without brave governments willing to take the fight up to big tobacco, they’d still have us believing that tobacco is neither harmful nor addictive.”
Warning labels in the U.S.
The FDA suggested similar packaging for cigarettes sold in the U.S., but the courts made a different decision than the Australians did.
A recent court ruling bars the federal government from forcing U.S. tobacco companies to place graphic pictures on their boxes. The FDA wanted nine different pictures showing the harmful effects of smoking put on all cigarette packaging.
According to CBS News, the court said the FDA “has not provided a shred of evidence” showing that the warnings will “directly advance” its interest in reducing the number of Americans who smoke.
Laywers for the tobacco companies fought the FDA on this idea every step of the way.
“It’s a significant vindication of First Amendment principles,” said Floyd Abrams, an attorney representing Lorillard Tobacco.
“There’s never been any doubt that the government could require warnings on products that can have dangerous results. And what the court is saying is that there are real limits on the ability of the government to require the manufacturer of a lawful product to denounce the product in the course of trying to sell it.”
Your Thoughts?
Do you think there should be graphic pictures on cigarettes? Do you think they would stop people from smoking? Was the court right to stop the FDA from slapping graphic pictures on cigarettes? Tell us your thoughts below.
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