Food and Drug: FDA Issues Proposed Rule on Graphic Health Warnings on Cigarette Packaging and Advertisements

On November 12, in a widely reported action, the Food and Drug Administration published in the Federal Register a notice of a proposed rule that would amend FDA regulations "to add a new requirement for the display of health warnings on cigarette packages and in cigarette advertisements. The proposed rule would implement a provision of the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act (Tobacco Control Act) that requires FDA to issue regulations requiring color graphics depicting the negative health consequences of smoking to accompany the nine new textual warning statements that will be required under the Tobacco Control Act. The Tobacco Control Act amends the Federal Cigarette Labeling and Advertising Act (FCLAA) to require each cigarette package and advertisement to bear one of nine new textual warning statements. This proposed rule, once finalized, would specify the color graphics that must accompany each of the nine new textual warning statements."

According to a paper published in the Bulletin of the World Health Organization, "28 countries have introduced pictorial warnings and many other countries are in the process of drafting regulations for pictorial warnings." The comment period on the proposed rule ends January 11, 2011.