Justices decline to hear challenge to tobacco law

By Lawrence Hurley

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday declined to hear a tobacco industry challenge to a federal law that expanded restrictions on the advertising and marketing of cigarettes.

The provisions of the 2009 Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act under attack included one requiring the display of a large health warning on packaging and another banning the sponsorship of public events.

The law also requires that before a tobacco product can be marketed, the manufacturer must prove to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration that it is less dangerous than other tobacco products. This provision is aimed at descriptive marketing terms such as “light” and “mild.”

Those challenging the provisions of the law included companies owned in part or in full by Reynolds American Inc, British American Tobacco Plc, Imperial Tobacco Group Plc and Lorillard Inc.

The companies claimed the law violates the First Amendment’s guarantee of freedom of speech, imposing “myriad restrictions on truthful, non-misleading speech to adult tobacco consumers.”

In response, the Obama administration noted in court papers that the law was specifically drafted to battle a recognized public health problem. Congress was particularly interested in restricting the marketing of cigarettes to young people, government lawyers wrote.

The Cincinnati-based 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the law in full, saying the warnings “are reasonably related to the government’s interest in preventing consumer deception.”

The case is distinct from a separate industry challenge to regulations the FDA issued to implement the graphic warning requirement. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit tossed out the regulation. The FDA is currently drafting a new one.

The case is American Snuff Company v. United States, U.S. Supreme Court, No. 12-521.

(Reporting by Lawrence Hurley; Editing by Howard Goller, Gerald E. McCormick and John Wallace)

호주, 2000년 이후 출생자 ‘담배 판매 금지’ 법안 통과

출처 : 경향신문 2012-08-23 14:39:13
http://news.khan.co.kr/kh_news/khan_art_view.html?artid=201208231439131&code=970100

호주의 한 주의회가 2000년 이후  출생자에게는 일체의 담배 판매를 하지 못하도록 하는 법안을 통과했다고 호주 국영 ABC 방송이 22일 보도했다.

방송에 따르면 호주 태즈메이니아 주상원은 2000년 이후 출생한 사람에 대해서는 일체의 담배 판매를 금지하도록 하는 내용의 담배판매 규제법안을 21일 통과 시킨 것으로 알려졌다.

또 법안은 담뱃갑이 무조건 거북함이 느껴지는 짙은 올리브색이어야하고 상표는 일괄적으로 작게 표시해야한다고 명시했다.

타냐 플리버섹 호주 보건부 장관은 “이번 판결은 담배와 관련한 질병으로 가족을 잃은 모든 분들의 승리”라고 말했다. 이 법안은 2000년 출생자들이 만 18세 성인이 되는 오는 2018년 발효될 예정이다.