Federal Judge Rejects Tobacco Companies’ Effort to Block Key Provisions of New Tobacco Regulation Law

On November 5th, 2009 there was a victory for public health's continued fight with Big Tobacco. A federal judge in Kentucky rejected a motion by tobacco companies trying to block provisions of the FDA legislation. The decision strongly support the authority of the Federal Government to prevent the industry from making health claims about its products without approval from the FDA. 


Judge McKinley forcefully backed the government’s interest in protecting consumers from misleading claims about tobacco products with supposedly reduced health risks. The judge agreed with the key argument that  “given the significant health risks associated with the use of tobacco products and the history of marketing ‘low tar’ and ‘light’ cigarettes,” the government  “has a substantial interest in protecting consumers from misleading tobacco industry claims about allegedly reduced risk tobacco products.”


Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, American Cancer Society, American Heart Association, American Lung Association among others released the following statement about this land mark decision. 

We applaud the federal court’s decision to quickly and decisively reject the latest attempt by Big Tobacco to frustrate the intent of the new FDA law and allow the agency to get on with its role in putting an end to deceptive and dangerous tobacco marketing.