Letter: Tobacco warnings are overreach
A Food and Drug Administration warning label for cigarette packs Credit: Photo by FDA
Lorillard Inc. and three other cigarette companies are suing the Food and Drug Administration to stop the agency from forcing new, more graphic warnings on cigarette packs. ["Suit against new cig labels," News, Aug. 18].
As long as cigarettes are legal to sell, the government should not be allowed to impose such drastic measures on any packaged merchandise.
Does the government have the power to force liquor companies to put sickening, revolting images of diseased livers on the liquor bottle label? Should the FDA require photos of alcoholics experiencing delirium tremens (DT's) on the side of each can of beer? Should automakers be forced to show the gory results of a head-on collision? Where does one draw the line?
Tobacco is legal for sale in the country, and to compel the companies to show ghastly, disgusting photographs on the product imposes an unreasonable penalty.
Terence Kane, Long Beach
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