In 2009 the Congress directed the FDA to create more graphic warning labels and mandate them on packs of cigarettes. In 2012, the FDA proposed 9 new more graphic labels. The tobacco industry sued the FDA arguing that the proposed new warning labels violated their 1st Amendment rights to free speech. Astonishingly, a 3 judge panel agreed because the propoised labels were crafted to evoke a strong emotional response rather than to educate consumers.
So it was back to the drawing board. Over the next few years the FDA didn’t propose new labels, so some health groups sued the FDA in 2016 because they still hadn’t complied with the 2009 law (now 10 years old). The health groups won, and the court ordered the FDA to come out with new draft warning labels by August with final ones in March of 2020.
You can read more about the new labels and look at them on the FDA website. Perhaps the new labels will be finally on packs of cigarettes next spring- more than 10 years after the law was passed and signed.
