A federal judge has blocked the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) rule requiring graphic warning labels on cigarettes, finding that the requirement went beyond the FDA’s authority.
The Tobacco Control Act outlines one of nine specific warnings to be placed on cigarette packages, including “WARNING: Smoking can kill you.” In its 2019 rule, the FDA added two options and altered some of the others, including changing “Smoking during pregnancy can harm your baby” to “Smoking during pregnancy stunts fetal growth.”
Congress said in the same law that the FDA may adjust certain aspects of the warning, including the required type sizes. But lawmakers did not give the agency authority to change the number of warnings, U.S. District Judge Campbell Barker wrote in his Jan. 13 ruling….