{"id":730,"date":"2011-11-09T15:17:17","date_gmt":"2011-11-09T22:17:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/theloungeisback.wordpress.com\/?p=730"},"modified":"2014-01-11T20:38:12","modified_gmt":"2014-01-11T20:38:12","slug":"dammit-judge-rules-against-graphic-warning-labels-on-cigarettes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/?p=730","title":{"rendered":"Dammit! Judge rules against graphic warning labels on cigarettes"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"warning<\/a><\/p>\n

Aw, crap!<\/p>\n

The tobacco companies might actually win this round. A federal judge in Washington, D.C., Richard Leon, slapped an injunction against<\/a> the graphic warning labels, saying there is a likelihood he would rule against the Food and Drug Administration. The tobacco industry (every major company but Philip Morris joined the lawsuit) argued that the labels violated their free speech.<\/p>\n

The judge ruled that the images were in violation of a “First Amendment principle that prevents the government from compelling speech in the commercial arena.”<\/p>\n

In issuing the injunction, Judge Leon states:<\/p>\n

“It is abundantly clear from viewing these images that the emotional response they were crafted to induce is calculated to provoke the viewer to quit, or never to start smoking \u2014 an objective wholly apart from disseminating purely factual and uncontroversial information.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Shit, shit, SHIT!<\/p>\n

“Today’s ruling reaffirms fundamental First Amendment principles by rejecting the notion that the government may require those who sell lawful products to adults to urge current and prospective purchasers not to purchase those products.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

— Floyd Abrams, a partner in the law firm of Cahill Gordon & Reindel that’s representing Lorillard (Newport).<\/p>\n

It doesn’t look good for the graphic warnings, which are in place and perfectly legal in places like Canada, the U.K. and Australia. Those countries don’t have a First Amendment and the kinds of legal protection for the tobacco industry that the U.S. does.<\/p>\n

Someone did make a good point to me, though, that “do you really think that a smoker is going to care what the images are?” Most probably won’t. Most I’m sure will ignore them, but if one, or two or three or a few more than that ARE affected by them and say to themselves, “Shit, I really need to quit,” than yeah, I think they make a difference.<\/p>\n

The case is still active, but with the injunction in place, the graphic warnings on cigarettes, in the U.S. at least, are probably a few years off at best.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Aw, crap! The tobacco companies might actually win this round. A federal judge in Washington, D.C., Richard Leon, slapped an injunction against the graphic warning labels, saying there is a likelihood he would rule against the Food and Drug Administration. The tobacco industry (every major company but Philip Morris joined the lawsuit) argued that the … Continue reading Dammit! Judge rules against graphic warning labels on cigarettes<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1672,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[7,1,76],"tags":[595,174,619],"class_list":["post-730","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-anti-tobacco-campaign","category-uncategorized","category-warning-labels","tag-fda","tag-smoking","tag-warning-labels"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/11\/warning-label6.png?fit=206%2C386&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4hpEa-bM","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":886,"url":"https:\/\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/?p=886","url_meta":{"origin":730,"position":0},"title":"Federal judge finds graphic cigarette warnings unconstitutional","author":"Pepe Lepew","date":"March 2, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Not surprising since the same judge a few weeks ago slapped an injunction on these cigarette labels. Washington Post story. New York Times story. Judge Richard J. Leon ruled this week that graphic warnings on cigarette packs violate the First Amendment, because, essentially, they go too far in forcing tobacco\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Anti-tobacco campaign"","block_context":{"text":"Anti-tobacco campaign","link":"https:\/\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/?cat=7"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/03\/french-cigarettes.jpg?fit=463%2C568&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":836,"url":"https:\/\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/?p=836","url_meta":{"origin":730,"position":1},"title":"Obama administration appeals court injunction on graphic cigarette warnings","author":"Pepe Lepew","date":"January 9, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Good! The Obama administration and the Food and Drug Administration appealed an exasperating federal court ruling on the legality of graphic warning labels on cigarette packs. The judge ruled that the warnings violated Big Tobacco's First Amendment rights by (and I'm simplifying here) forcing them to publish warning labels to\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "phillip Morris"","block_context":{"text":"phillip Morris","link":"https:\/\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/?cat=50"},"img":{"alt_text":"cigarette-warning-labels.jpg&q=80&MaxW=320","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/01\/cigarette-warning-labels.jpgq80MaxW320-300x183.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":745,"url":"https:\/\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/?p=745","url_meta":{"origin":730,"position":2},"title":"Australian Senate passes plain cigarette package law","author":"Pepe Lepew","date":"November 14, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"(Thanks to Classical Gas for the scoop on this story!) Australia is attempting to force cigarette companies in that country to have utterly, entirely plain cigarette packages, with no artwork, no logos, no graphics whatsoever, except for graphic images of lung cancer and other diseases caused by cigarette smoking. The\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Anti-tobacco campaign"","block_context":{"text":"Anti-tobacco campaign","link":"https:\/\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/?cat=7"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/11\/french-cigarettes.jpg?fit=463%2C568&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":597,"url":"https:\/\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/?p=597","url_meta":{"origin":730,"position":3},"title":"Big Tobacco sues U.S. government over warning labels as being too “depressing”","author":"Pepe Lepew","date":"August 20, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"File this one under, \"you have to be absolutely shitting me.\" Five Big Tobacco companies, led by (cue shock) R.J. Reynolds, the sleaziest of the sleaze Big Tobacco companies, filed suit against the Food and Drug Administration over graphic warning labels being required by the agency. Get this, the complaint\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Anti-tobacco campaign"","block_context":{"text":"Anti-tobacco campaign","link":"https:\/\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/?cat=7"},"img":{"alt_text":"9035686-standard","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/08\/9035686-standard-300x230.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":700,"url":"https:\/\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/?p=700","url_meta":{"origin":730,"position":4},"title":"Oh, those kooky Kiwis and their cigarette warnings!","author":"Pepe Lepew","date":"November 2, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Oh, look at this. Those kooky Kiwis have come up with the dumbest invention for smokers. 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Activists trying to fight obesity in kids and adults got together at the Center for Science in the Public Interest to discuss how to combat the epidemic of obesity and diabetes.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Diabetes"","block_context":{"text":"Diabetes","link":"https:\/\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/?cat=304"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/sugar-drinks.jpg?fit=615%2C345&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/sugar-drinks.jpg?fit=615%2C345&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/sugar-drinks.jpg?fit=615%2C345&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/730","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=730"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/730\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1673,"href":"https:\/\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/730\/revisions\/1673"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1672"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=730"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=730"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=730"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}