Tobacco Rules Challenged in U.S. Free-Speech Lawsuit

Tobacco legislation signed by President Barack Obama in June violates the First Amendment protections for free speech, according to a lawsuit joined by Reynolds American Inc.’s R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co.
The legislation “imposes unprecedented restrictions” on companies by “limiting their ability to disseminate truthful information about tobacco products to adult consumers,” according to the lawsuit, filed today in U.S. District Court in Bowling Green, Kentucky.
Reynolds, the second-largest U.S. cigarette maker, and third-biggest Lorillard Tobacco Co. sued after opposing the legislation that gives the U.S. Food and Drug Administration oversight over tobacco products. The law goes beyond discouraging youth smoking and limits the use of colors and logos in most advertising and packaging so severely that the producers have “virtually no means” to communicate with adult tobacco users, the suit said.
Altria Group Inc.’s Philip Morris USA, which makes half of the cigarettes sold in the U.S., supported FDA regulation and endorsed the law. The Richmond, Virginia-based maker of Marlboro cigarettes hasn’t reviewed the litigation and had no immediate comment, said David Sylvia, an Altria spokesman.
The FDA doesn’t comment on pending litigation, Kathleen Quinn, an agency spokeswoman, said in an e-mail.
The top half of cigarette packaging would carry a U.S. government “anti-tobacco message including shocking, color graphic images,” leaving manufacturers a small area at the bottom of the packages for marketing, according to the suit.
“The obvious purpose of this is to force plaintiffs to stigmatize their own products through their own packaging,” the suit said. Reynolds, based in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, makes Winston and Camel cigarettes.
Lorillard Tobacco, a unit of Greensboro, North Carolina- based Lorillard Inc., makes Newport menthol cigarettes. Other plaintiffs in the suit include cigarette maker Commonwealth Brands Inc. and Discount Tobacco City & Lottery Inc., a retailer.