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Article

17 Aug 2011

Author:
Jeffrey Collins, Detroit Free Press

Tobacco companies file lawsuit over warning labels [USA]

Tobacco companies want a judge to put a stop to new graphic cigarette labels that include the sewn-up corpse of a smoker and pictures of diseased lungs, saying they unfairly urge adults to shun their legal products and will cost millions to produce. Four of the five largest U.S. tobacco companies sued the federal government…saying the warnings violate their free speech rights...The companies, led by R.J. Reynolds Tobacco…and Lorillard Tobacco [part of Carolina Group]…said the warnings no longer simply convey facts to allow people to make a decision on whether to smoke. They instead force them to put government antismoking advocacy more prominently on their packs than their own brands…The lawsuit said the images were manipulated to be especially emotional…[refers to Commonwealth Brands, Liggett (part of Vector Group), Santa Fe Natural Tobacco, Altria, Philip Morris (part of Altria)]