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A federal judge in Texas has temporarily blocked the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) from enforcing a requirement that cigarette packages include graphic warnings about the impacts of smoking.
On Monday, U.S. District Judge J. Campbell Barker in Tyler, Texas, ruled in favor of RJ Reynolds Tobacco Company et al., finding that the FDA lacks the authority to require cigarette packaging and advertising to include one of 11 different warning labels.
In the ruling, Barker wrote that the law only requires cigarette packages and advertisements to include one of the nine warning labels and that the agency does not have the authority to add two more.
It also said the agency only used the exact wording required by law for two of its 11 warning labels.
The FDA recommends new health warnings with color images for cigarette packs and ads in 2019 with the stated purpose of promoting “greater public understanding” of the negative health outcomes of smoking.
These warnings include graphic images, such as a pair of feet with multiple toes amputated and a woman with a large, protruding tumor on her neck, placed alongside the text.
A year later, the agency issued a final rule requiring the new health warnings to be placed on cigarette packages and in advertising. But the requirement has yet to be implemented due to legal challenges brought by tobacco companies such as RJ Reynolds who argue the new warnings violate their right to free speech.
RJ Reynolds, along with Imperial Brands, sued FDA over new warnings in 2020. Barker ruled in favor of tobacco companies in 2022. But RJ Reynolds took the case to the Supreme Court after the US 5th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the FDA’s packaging and advertising requirement did not violate the First Amendment.
The Supreme Court declined to hear the challenge, allowing the lower court ruling to stand.
Monday’s decision by Barker temporarily blocks the FDA from enforcing the warning label requirement until a final ruling on the case is issued.
The FDA and RJ Reynolds declined to comment.
— Updated at 5:21 PM EST.
