Lawsuits Over Graphic Cigarette Warnings

Four of the five largest U.S. tobacco companies sued the Food and Drug Administration Tuesday yesterday over mandatory, graphic new cigarette warning labels that they say violate their free speech rights and will cost millions of dollars to print.

They charge the warnings no longer give facts to allow people to make a decision about whether to smoke, but will force them to put government anti-smoking advocacy more prominently on cigarette packs than their own brand names.

The FDA approved nine new warning images, which will be printed on the entire top half, front and back, of the packaging, and must also make up 20 percent of any cigarette advertising. The images include things like a corpse with its chest sewn up and a pair of diseased lungs.

Do you think the government has gone too far?