On November 7, 2011, the U.S. District Court Judge Richard Leon ruled that the nine new graphic warnings approved by the Food and Drug Administration in June 2011 went beyond the legal boundary of health risks and into the territory of advocacy. The federal judge also asked the rule to be suspended until the lawsuit---filed by R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. of Winston-Salem, N.C.; Lorillard Tobacco Company of Greensboro, N.C.; Commonwealth Brands Inc. of Bowling Green, Ky.; Liggett Group of Mebane, N.C.; and Santa Fe Natural Tobacco Co. of Santa Fe, N.M.---got resolved. The nine graphic warnings approved by FDA in June 2011 are:
(1) A man exhaling cigarette smoke through a tracheotomy hole in his throat
(2) A plume of cigarette smoke enveloping an infant receiving a mother's kiss
(3) A pair of diseased lungs beside a pair of healthy lungs
(4) A diseased mouth afflicted with what appears to be cancerous lesions
(5) A man breathing into an oxygen mask
(6) A cadaver on a table with post-autopsy chest staples
(7) A woman weeping
(8) A premature baby in an incubator
(9) A man wearing a T-shirt that features a "No Smoking" symbol and the words "I Quit"
The FDA acted following the instructions from Congress inspired by a similar law in Canada. The current Surgeon General warning on the cigarette packet has been present for the last 45 years.
After the US District Judge Richard Leon temporarily blocked the cigarette rules on November 7, 2011, the judge issued another ruling on February 29, 2012 blocking the warning requirements.
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