WASHINGTON | Tue Nov 29,
2011 5:05pm EST
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Obama
administration on Tuesday appealed a U.S. judge's ruling and injunction that
blocked tobacco companies from having to display graphic images on cigarette
packs and advertising, such as a man exhaling smoke through a hole in his
throat.
The appeal had been widely expected after U.S. District Judge Richard Leon
earlier this month sided with tobacco companies and granted a temporary
injunction blocking the requirement.
He said the companies would likely succeed in their lawsuit challenging the
new graphic warnings as unconstitutional because it compels speech in violation
of the First Amendment.
The Food and Drug Administration in June released nine new warnings to go
into effect in September 2012, the first change in U.S. cigarette warning labels
in 25 years. Cigarette packs already carry text warnings from the U.S. Surgeon
General.
Congress instructed the FDA to impose the new labels as part of 2009
legislation making the agency responsible for regulating tobacco
products.
The warnings were required to cover the top half of the front and back of
cigarette packs and 20 percent of printed advertisements and must contain color
graphics depicting the health consequences of smoking, including diseased lungs,
dead bodies and rotting teeth.
But Leon said the graphic images were not narrowly tailored, meaning they are
unlikely to survive constitutional muster. He said they provoked an emotional
response rather than just providing factual and noncontroversial information,
crossing the line into using company advertising for government
advocacy.
The administration appealed Leon's ruling to the U.S. Court of Appeals for
the District of Columbia Circuit and the case could ultimately end up before the
U.S. Supreme Court.
Reynolds American Inc's R.J. Reynolds unit, Lorillard Inc, Liggett Group LLC
and Commonwealth Brands Inc, owned by Britain's Imperial Tobacco Group Plc, sued
the FDA in August to block the new advisories.
They argued the new graphic warnings force them to "engage in anti-smoking
advocacy" on the government's behalf, breaching their right to free
speech.
Tobacco is the leading cause of preventable deaths in the United States,
accounting for one in every five deaths every year, according to the Centers for
Disease Control and Prevention. About 21 percent of U.S. adults smoke
cigarettes, a number little changed since 2004.
The case is R.J Reynolds Tobacco Co et al v. U.S. Food and Drug
Administration et al, U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, No.
11-cv-1482.
(Reporting by Jeremy
Pelofsky and Anna Yukhananov in Washington; Editing by Steve Orlofsky;
editing by Carol Bishopric)