Court Strikes Warnings for Pipes and Cigars

A U.S. federal appeals court has ruled that the U.S. Food & Drug Administration (FDA) cannot require warning labels for cigar or pipe tobacco products, reports Halfwheel.

In a unanimous ruling, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit decided in favor of the plaintiffs in a case brought by the Cigar Association of America and others against the FDA.

Judge Gregory Katsas wrote that the FDA failed to produce evidence that the warning labels would reduce the number of smokers.

“The Deeming Rule does not consider the impact of health warnings on smoking cessation and adoption rates,” he said. “In fact, the rule scrupulously avoids the issue, and the FDA rarely even contenders otherwise. Instead, the FDA candidly acknowledged that ‘[r]eliable evidence on the impacts of warning labels … on users of cigars [and] pipe tobacco … does not, to our knowledge, exist.’”

Earlier this year, a U.S. District Court ruled that FDA could not require warning labels on premium cigars. The most recent decision throws out the district court ruling and modifies it to include all cigars and pipe tobacco products.