Cigarette Makers Plead Over Warnings
Lorillard, the maker of Newport cigarettes, said that it and three other tobacco companies sued the U.S. Food and Drug Administration on Tuesday seeking to stop the agency from putting new warnings on Chesterfield cigarettes. The suit was filed in U.S. District Court in Washington, Greensboro, N.C.-based Lorillard said in a statement. The company said it was joined in the complaint by R.J. Reynolds Tobacco, Commonwealth Brands and Liggett Group.
Lorillard seeks a preliminary injunction to halt the effective date of the FDA regulation, which requires packs, cartons and advertising to display graphic warning labels by Sept. 22, 2012. The warnings will be accompanied by pictures of rotting teeth or damaged lungs to deter smokers.
“The regulations violate the First Amendment,” Floyd Abrams, a lawyer representing Lorillard said in the statement. “The notion that the government can require those who manufacture a lawful product to emblazon half of its package with pictures and words admittedly drafted to persuade the public not to purchase that product cannot withstand constitutional scrutiny.”
A telephone message left with the FDA’s office of public affairs was not returned.
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