Tobacco health labels violate free speech, judge rules
Source: Reuters
Tobacco health labels violate free speech, judge rules
U.S. judge sides with tobacco companies by opposing regulation requiring graphic health warnings on packaging
updated 2 hours 34 minutes ago
WASHINGTON — A U.S. judge sided with tobacco companies on Wednesday, ruling that regulations requiring large graphic health warnings on cigarette packaging and advertising violate free-speech rights under the U.S. Constitution.
Cigarette makers challenged the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's rule requiring companies to label tobacco products with images of rotting teeth, diseased lungs and other images intended to illustrate the dangers of smoking.
"The government has failed to carry both its burden of demonstrating a compelling interest and its burden of demonstrating that the rule is narrowly tailored to achieve a constitutionally permissible form of compelled commercial speech," U.S. District Judge Richard Leon said.
While educating the public about the dangers of smoking "might be compelling, an interest in simply advocating that the public not purchase a legal product is not," Leon wrote in a 19-page ruling.
Read more: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/46577000/ns/health-addictions/
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