By Katherine Hobson
New York City is aggressive with its public-health campaigns ? note its recent in-your-face subway ads discouraging binge drinking during the holidays.
A federal judge just ruled against one of its other high-profile efforts, a law that required convenience stores and other outlets selling cigarettes to post explicit anti-smoking posters near the point of sale. The posters showed images such as a diseased lung and rotting tooth.
As the New York Times reports, a judge ruled yesterday that only the federal government has the legal authority to regulate cigarettes in this way. The feds are already at work in this arena, having proposed new cigarette labels which, like the posters in NYC, aim to shock.
The health department tells us via email that the city?s law department says it will appeal. (We have contacted the law department for more details and will update when we get them.) The suit was brought by a convenience store trade group and three big cigarette makers, Phillip Morris, Lorillard and R.J. Reynolds.
In a statement, the health department said it is ?disappointed with and strongly disagrees with? the ruling, and that the signs ?portray completely factual messages about the dangers of smoking and advise that quitting is the best way for smokers to avoid contracting smoking-related illnesses? at the ?exact moment? smokers are making purchasing decisions.
Image: iStockphoto
Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/wsj/health/feed/~3/hNpyp0HxEUo/
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