Food and Drug Administration illustration of some proposed labels |
The extension was granted by a Texas federal judge, who sided with the tobacco industry which asked for the extension, "arguing the FDA deadline was too onerous given the financial and logistical impact of the Covid-19 pandemic since mid-March," Craver reports.
The companies told then judge, "These expenditures of resources for the purpose of meeting the rule's requirements constitute irreparable harm because plaintiffs cannot recover money damages should the rule and/or the graphic-warning requirement in the Tobacco Control Act be invalidated."
The manufacturers also repeated their claim that the labels violate the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, Craver reports.
The graphic warnings are required to cover the top half of the front and rear panels of traditional cigarette packages, as well as at least 20 percent of the top of advertisements.
The new set of 11 images “depict some of the lesser-known, but serious health risks of cigarette smoking,” such as risk of blindness, lower blood flow to extremities and Type 2 diabetes, the FDA told Craver, who noted that the new images do not include some of the FDA's earlier warning submissions that included a cadaver and smoke coming out of a throat hole.
He notes that "a coalition of anti-tobacco and public-health groups sued the FDA in October 2016, saying it “unlawfully withheld” or “unreasonably delayed” issuing its final rule."
The warnings would be the first update to cigarette package warnings in more than 30 years. They were authorized by a 2009 law, but a tobacco company lawsuit blocked the FDA's first attempt.
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