Last but not least: A reason to complain
In the USA, four of the five largest tobacco companies filed a lawsuit against the US government on Tuesday. The reason for this is the new mandatory warnings on smoking products about the dangers of smoking.
The plaintiff companies argued that the new notices forced them to display government warnings about smoking more prominently than their own brand names. Never before in the U.S. have manufacturers of a legally produced product been required to convey an emotionally charged government message on their own packaging and advertising urging adult consumers to avoid their products, the lawsuit states, according to SDA.
The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved nine new warnings that are quite drastic. Among other things, they show a picture of a corpse with its chest sewn shut. These are to be printed alternately on the packs - on the entire top half of the front and back. The companies are now claiming that the new imprints cost millions of dollars. The reason for this is new machines that allow the warnings to be changed frequently.
The plaintiffs are R.J. Reynolds, Lorillard, Commonwealth Brands, Liggett Group and Santa Fe Natural Tobacco Company. Altria Group, the parent company of the largest US cigarette manufacturer Philip Morris, has not joined the lawsuit.
