Court tosses graphic cigarette warnings

RICHMOND, Va. -- The federal government can't require tobacco companies to put large graphic health warnings on cigarette packages to show that smoking can disfigure and even kill people, a divided federal appeals court panel ruled Friday.

In a 2-1 decision, the U.S. Court of Appeals in Washington affirmed a lower court's ruling that the requirement ran afoul of the First Amendment's free speech protections. The appeals court tossed out the requirement and told the Food and Drug Administration to go back to the drawing board.

The decision is considered a blow to one of the Obama administration's major public health initiatives and raises the prospect of another U.S. Supreme Court tobacco battle.

Some of the nation's largest tobacco companies, including R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co., sued to block the mandate to include warnings that show the dangers of smoking and encourage smokers to quit lighting up. They argued that the proposed warnings went beyond factual information into anti-smoking advocacy.

The government argued the photos of dead and diseased smokers are factual in conveying the dangers of tobacco, which is responsible for about 443,000 U.S. deaths a year.

The nine warnings proposed by the FDA include color images of a man exhaling cigarette smoke through a tracheotomy hole, and a plume of smoke enveloping an infant receiving a mother's kiss.

Public health groups are urging the government to appeal. -- AP