Eight public health organisations have asked a federal court to force the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to issue a final ruling mandating graphic health warnings on cigarette packs and advertising, the groups said.

Although the 2009 Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act calls for pictorial warnings, a previous FDA attempt was blocked by court in Washington D.C. The groups said their suit, filed 4 Oct in Boston federal court, is based on the Tobacco Control Act and a 2012 federal appeals court ruling upholding the graphic warning requirement in the 2009 law.
“Taken together, these two federal court decisions mean the FDA is still legally obligated to require graphic health warnings, and the agency is free to use different images than those struck down by the D.C. Circuit in 2012,” the groups said in a joint statement. The lawsuit was brought by the American Academy of Pediatrics, the Massachusetts Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American Cancer Society, the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network, the American Heart Association, the American Lung Association, the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, Truth Initiative, and several individual pediatricians.