Cigarette companies are struggling against the attempts of the United States and Australia to make cigarette products less attractive. For instance a week ago, Washington federal judge impeded the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) from demanding new labels on cigarette packages. Judge Richard Leon pronounced a judgment for five tobacco companies. The judge provisionally stopped a new federal rule to demand bigger health warnings starting from the next September. The changes should include images depicting a dead body or diseased lungs. Currently simple text warnings are starting to appear.

Congress urged for color images demonstrating the hazards of smoking as Canada did. But the tobacco companies declare that the new requirements infringe their free speech rights assured by the Constitution. Judge Leon sated that the FDA could not demand the new graphic warnings before a judicial proceeding against the government is decided. Some experts state that the process requires not months but years. “I think that cigarette manufacturers are likely to win their case. The images are intended to appeal to emotion, turning down government arguments that they are rather informational. He accused the government of attempting to use warnings in order to promote an ‘evident anti-smoking agenda,” the judge said. The Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, which is the head of an anti-smoking group, stated that the decision is a wrong one.

According to estimates about one-fifth of American adults light up. The World Health Organization states that smoking kills about six million people all over the world each year. More than 600 thousand of them are non-smokers who breathe other people’s cigarette smoke.

In Australia, cigarette companies plan to stop what would be the word’s most circumscription laws on cigarette advertising. Cigarettes could be sold only in plain packages without any logos; only the brand name and health labels could appear. The Senate adopted the bill last week and directed it to lower house to endorse several changes. The law will take effect in December 2012.

Tobacco companies state the legislation infringes the Australian constitution. They declare that it would unfairly decrease the value of their brand names and various trademarks. Health Minister Nicola Roxon states the government is prepared for a legal fight. “Every time a smoker takes a cigarette pack out of his pocket, we want to make sure that all that is demonstrating is the hazard that can be caused from tobacco. The given law will be a great success for families,” concluded Nicola Roxon.

By Sara Norton, Staff Writer. Copyright © 2011 Cigarette-Store.org. All rights reserved.