Federal drug regulators and health officials hope that new requirements for larger and more graphic warning labels on cigarette packages will help reduce tobacco use in the United States. Anything that promotes that cause is welcome.
About 450,000 Americans die prematurely each year as a result of smoking-related diseases. Another 8 million live with chronic disease related to tobacco use, which currently costs the U.S. economy about $200 billion a year. Most of the deaths, disease and costs are preventable. The warning labels are one way, officials say, to remind consumers about the dangers directly associated with cigarettes.
Labeling is required by new legislation that gives the Food and Drug Administration the power to regulate tobacco. Tobacco companies aren’t happy with the law, which significantly tightens oversight of their industry, and they certainly are unhappy with the new label requirements, the first real show of the FDA’s new clout.
Cigarette makers publicly opposed the new labels and already have gone to court to contest them. The companies say the law infringes on their free-speech and property rights. They can claim what they want, but they’ll be hard-pressed to make their case.
Earlier this year, a federal judge ruled in a related lawsuit that the FDA could require graphic warnings, but that restrictions on coloring on cigarette packaging did infringe on free speech rights. Nevertheless, the cigarette makers are appealing what seems to be an equitable decision.