• Posted November 25, 2024

Supreme Court Won't Hear Big Tobacco's Challenge to Cigarette Warning Labels

The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday declined to hear a major tobacco company's challenge to a federal law that would mandate graphic images on cigarette packs. 

Some of the proposed images include a woman with a large lump on her neck alongside the message "WARNING: Smoking causes head and neck cancer;" lungs blackened by smoking; and feet darkened by smoking-linked circulatory problems.

The R.J. Reynolds tobacco company had filed an appeal with the Supreme Court after the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the warnings do not violate the First Amendment, the Associated Press reported.

In its appeal, the tobacco company argued that some of the images were misleading -- for example, the company claimed that the woman with the lump on her neck would never have let it get that large before going to a doctor.

But the Supreme Court justices ruled that the images do, in fact, reflect the very real hazards of smoking.

If the images make it to the sides of cigarette packs, the U.S. would join 120 other nations that already mandate such graphic warnings. Studies have shown that images work even better than text warnings in cutting down smoking rates.

In a statement, the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids called the Supreme Court's dismissal of the appeal a "tremendous victory for public health."

"Graphic warnings are a best-practice policy to reduce tobacco use and save lives, and they are long-overdue in the United States," the advocacy group wrote. "These warnings were first required by Congress in 2009 and have been repeatedly delayed by tobacco industry legal challenges. The graphic warnings will show and tell the truth about the deadly consequences of smoking and will promote greater public understanding of the many ways in which smoking harms the human body."

There's still some time before the images might appear on products, however, since other legal appeals are ongoing, the AP noted.  

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has also stated that it has no plans to update packaging requirements until at least December of 2025.

More information

Find out more about quitting smoking at the American Cancer Society.

SOURCES: Associated Press, Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, statement, Nov. 25, 2024