Category: Packaging

Court Blocks FDA Graphic Health Warnings

Image: FDA
A federal judge has blocked the U.S. Food and Drug Administration from enforcing a rule requiring tobacco manufacturers to print graphic warning labels on their products, citing the companies’ First Amendment rights, reports Law360.
The Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act of 2009 instructs the FDA to create visual health warnings, but the D.C. Circuit in 2012 blocked the agency’s first attempt, saying that regulators had not convincingly demonstrated that the warnings would actually reduce smoking.
In March 2020, the FDA released the final rule requiring new graphic warnings for cigarettes that feature some of the lesser known but still serious health risks of smoking, such as diabetes, on the top half of the front and back of cigarette packages and at least 20 percent of the area on the top of cigarette advertisements.
R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co., ITG Brands and Liggett Group filed a First Amendment challenge in April 2020. The rule was set to take effect in November 2023 after it was repeatedly pushed back by court.
In a lengthy opinion issued Dec. 7, U.S. District Judge J. Campbell Barker of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas vacated the FDA’s rule after finding that the required label statements and graphic images are not narrowly tailored to the agency’s interest in promoting public awareness of the health risks of smoking.
“The government has not shown that compelling these large graphic warnings is necessary in light of other options,” the judge said, noting that the government could put more effort into public awareness campaigns.
Public health campaigners were aghast. “Today’s decision by a federal judge to block implementation of graphic cigarette warnings ordered by the Food and Drug Administration is wrong on the law, inconsistent with decades of precedent and harms public health,” read a joint statement issued by the American Academy of Pediatrics, American Cancer Society, American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network, American Heart Association, American Lung Association, Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids and Truth Initiative.
“We urge the justice department to appeal this decision, and we are confident that the FDA’s warnings will ultimately be upheld by a higher court.”
The health groups also noted that the U.S. had fallen behind other countries with its tobacco control policies. Prior to 2009, when Congress passed the Tobacco Control Act, only 18 countries required graphic warnings for tobacco products, they pointed out. Today, more than 120 countries require them.
December 8, 2022
U.S. Health Warnings Date Pushed Back Again

Image: FDA
A U.S. court has postponed the effective date of the Food and Drug Administration’s graphic cigarette health warning regulation from Oct. 6, 2023, to Nov. 6, 2023, reports Convenience Store News. The ruling represents at least the 10th judge-ordered delay.
Issued on Nov. 7, the court order also pushes back the preferred filing deadline for manufacturers and retailers to submit cigarette health warning rotational plans to the FDA by 31 days, according to the National Association of Tobacco Outlets (NATO).
Each manufacturer and retailer that creates its own cigarette advertisements is required to file a plan with the FDA that sets forth the schedule for rotating the eleven graphic cigarette health warnings on cigarette advertisements. The preferred filing deadline for cigarette health warning rotational plans should now be Jan. 6, 2023, NATO said.
The FDA released its final rule requiring new graphic warnings for cigarettes in March 2020. The rule calls for labels that feature some of the lesser known health risks of smoking, such as diabetes. The graphic warnings must cover the top 50 percent of the front and rear panels of packages as well as at least 20 percent of the top of advertisements.
In addition, the warnings must be randomly and equally displayed and distributed on cigarette packages and rotated quarterly in cigarette advertisements.
In April and May 2020, cigarette manufacturers and retailers sued the FDA, arguing that the graphic warning requirements amount to governmental anti-smoking advocacy because the government has never forced makers of a legal product to use their own advertising to spread an emotionally charged message urging adults not to use their products.
In a more recent challenge, tobacco companies argued that the deadline was too onerous due to the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic. They also pointed to the risk that they would lose their investments in new packaging if the graphic health warning requirement were to be thrown out in court.
In March 2021, the Texas District Court granted a motion by the plaintiffs to postpone the effective date of the final rule to April 14, 2022. The move was followed by additional postponements.

November 15, 2022
Judge Halts Corporate Communications Decree

Photo: Tobacco Reporter archive
A court in Uruguay has issued an injunction preventing the implementation of a decree that would have allowed tobacco companies to print information on cigarette sticks and to include inserts in tobacco packs.
Public health campaigners had criticized the decree as undermining Uruguay’s plain tobacco packaging law.
After President Lacalle Pou issued the decree, health campaigners filed a constitutional lawsuit to reverse it. The judge ruled that the decree jeopardized children’s rights and infringed on Uruguay’s international obligations to health and human rights laws.
Anti-smoking activists welcomed the ruling. “We applaud the tireless advocates in Uruguay who fought this measure in court and won,” wrote Matthew L. Myers, president of the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, in a statement.
“While the Lacalle Pou administration has shown an alarming willingness to cave to the interests of Big Tobacco, the public health community in Uruguay remains a steadfast guardian of the country’s renowned tobacco control laws.
“Uruguay’s actions should serve as a reminder to advocates and governments around the world to be ever vigilant of Big Tobacco companies as they seek to undo decades of progress in driving down rates of tobacco use.”
October 27, 2022
Essentra Invests in Sheet-Fed Applications

Photo: Essentra
Essentra Tapes has expanded its ability to serve the paper and board industry with the launch of its new SF-AS DH1 sheet fed applicator.
The tape applicator system was developed by Essentra Tapes’ in-house team of experts and facilitates efficient tape application in the sheet-fed manufacturing process.
The system can run automatic rapid stop/start performance on tape widths from 4 mm–25 mm and at compatible production line speeds. Crucially, it represents a sheet-fed solution that can rival continuous feed. The SF-AS DH1 can also be optimized for use on new and existing packaging lines and boasts a fully electronic interface as standard.
Designed and manufactured in a modern facility in Nottingham, U.K., the system is capable of running two applicator heads simultaneously, meaning RippaTape can be applied alongside release liners or double-sided tapes.
“Our vision was simple—to create a simple-to-operate, easy-to-integrate applicator, which addresses the tape application needs of sheet feed manufacturing and makes light work of creating e-commerce solutions,” said Ian Beresford, Essentra Tapes’ head of marketing and development.
“Our renewed investment into applicator technology and field engineers is the first of several important market interventions we hope to make between now and the end of the year.
“With prospective and existing customers increasingly looking to clean up operations and be more efficient, we’re confident our new sheet feed applicator can deliver a quality tape application every time.”
With modular assembly, easy integration, simple tape setup and renowned technical support and aftercare, the tape solutions provider says it is already fielding inquiries about this new plug-and-play solution.
September 23, 2022
Outrage About Inserts

Photo: Valeri Vatel
Anti-tobacco activists are outraged about a recent government decree in Uruguay that allows cigarette manufacturers to print information on cigarette sticks and include inserts in tobacco packs.
In 2019, Uruguay became the first country in Latin America to require plain packaging of tobacco products. Pioneered in Australia, plain packaging requires that tobacco packs have a uniform color and texture and prohibits any branding, logos or other promotional elements inside or attached to tobacco products.
The measure is meant to reduce the attractiveness and appeal of tobacco products and increase the noticeability of health warnings.
According to the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids (CTFK), the recent government decision allows tobacco companies to market their products in ways the plain packaging legislation was designed to prevent.
“The government has put the interests of the tobacco industry ahead of the health of all Uruguayans,” wrote CTFK President Matthew Myers in a statement, adding that it is not the first time that President Lacalle Pou’s administration “capitulated” to the tobacco industry.
Prior to the administration’s decision on plain packaging, the government reversed a decree that had banned the sale of tobacco-heating products like IQOS and Glo.
September 15, 2022
KT&G to Build Tobacco Packaging Factory

Photo: KT&G
KT&G plans to build a new eco-friendly tobacco packaging factory in Sejong City, reports The Korea Herald.
Under the KRW180 billion ($133.5 million) project, the factory will be constructed at Sejong Mirae Industrial Estate, a government-developed area for local manufacturing companies, by 2025.
KT&G said the factory will produce tobacco packaging, such as cigarette papers and boxes, based on a cutting-edge logistics automation system and a digital printing process.
Keen to fulfill a leadership position in energy and environmental design, the company aims to secure an eco-friendly certification by using renewable energy, including solar energy, and upgrading infrastructure for air (pollution) and wasted water.
August 30, 2022
South Korea to Mandate New Health Warnings

Image: Tobacco Reporter archive
Cigarette manufacturers will have to start printing new graphic health warnings in late December, reports The Korea Herald, citing new regulations announced by the Ministry of Health and Welfare.
The ministry plans to distribute the updated manual for labeling health warnings on cigarette packaging today, as a follow-up to the government’s tobacco industry regulation revision passed in June.
New graphic health warnings specified in the document include a warning about second-hand smoking showing a rendered image of a newborn child sucking on a baby bottle stuffed with cigarette butts.
The new rules, which come into effect Dec. 23, impact vapor products, too. E-cigarettes manufacturers will be required to cover more than 50 percent of each pack with health warnings, officials said.
August 29, 2022
Tobacco Packaging Innovations Under Fire

Image: Tobacco Reporter archive
The tobacco industry has been developing innovative packaging to minimize the impact of regulatory requirements such as graphic health warnings, particularly in low- and middle-income countries, according to a study published in BMJ Innovations.
Mounting restrictions on tobacco advertising have made the tobacco pack an increasingly important tool for the industry to communicate with its customers. Cigarette packs in effect act as miniature billboards for the product.
Confronted with requirements to print large health warning labels that leave less space for branding, tobacco companies have found ways to maximize and even increase the space available for marketing on packs, according to the study’s authors. Examples include inserts, sliding flip tops and butterfly panels exposing additional surfaces upon opening.
These surfaces often feature bright colors and patterns, intricate imagery, shiny and textured surfaces, and holograms to appeal to customers, according to the authors. The extra “real estate” can be used to include information about contests or marketing appeals and QR codes that lead current and potential smokers to websites that include engagement strategies.
In addition to examples of packaging innovations—which are generally legal—the authors also cite evidence of explicit manipulation of health warnings. Smokeless tobacco packs purchased in India in 2017, for example, featured blurred, stretched and tinted labels. Health warning labels on cigarette packs purchased in Pakistan in 2019 and 2020 were tinted, faded, blurred. In some instances, the background color was changed and the size of throat cancer included in the image was reduced.
The authors did not consider the possibility that some distortions might be a result of poor printing quality rather than deliberate manipulation.
To prevent the industry from developing packaging that reduces the impact of health warnings, the researchers urged lawmakers to require standardized tobacco packs in their jurisdictions.
August 14, 2022
Graphic Warnings Date Postponed Again

Image: FDA
The implementation date for graphic health warnings in the United States has been pushed back by another three months, to Oct. 6, 2023, reports the Winston-Salem Journal.
On Aug. 10, a U.S. District Court Judge in Texas approved the most recent launch date postponement for cigarette manufacturers. It is at least the ninth judge-ordered delay.
The FDA released its final rule requiring new graphic warnings for cigarettes in March 2020. The rule calls for labels that feature some of the lesser known health risks of smoking, such as diabetes. The graphic warnings must cover the top 50 percent of the front and rear panels of packages as well as at least 20 percent of the top of advertisements.
In April and May 2020, cigarette manufacturers and retailers sued the FDA, arguing that the graphic warning requirements amount to governmental anti-smoking advocacy because the government has never forced makers of a legal product to use their own advertising to spread an emotionally charged message urging adults not to use their products.
In a more recent challenge, tobacco companies argued that the deadline was too onerous due to the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic. They also pointed to the risk that they would lose their investments in new packaging if the graphic health warning requirement were to be thrown out in court.
In March 2021, the Texas District Court granted a motion by the plaintiffs to postpone the effective date of the final rule to April 14, 2022. The move was followed by additional postponements.
August 14, 2022
New Packaging for ‘1839’ Cigarettes

Photo: USTC
Premier Manufacturing, the consumer products division of U.S. Tobacco Cooperative (USTC), has redesigned the packaging for 1839 cigarettes.
“Premier developed a premium visual design that showcases updated brand colors, a cleaner overall look and the distinctive 1839 logo; all while maintaining some traditional elements to help make 1839 attractive on stores cigarette fixtures,” USTC wrote in a press note.
“The bold red and rich blues are just some of the colors used in the packaging design that is anchored by historic 1839 elements such as the silhouette of a farmer with the horse and plow on a field image that simulates a tobacco leaf. The 1839 quality seal refers to the heritage and premium blend of tobacco used in the product and the 1839 date is when the flue-cured tobacco process was discovered in North Carolina.”
Also incorporated is “A Product of US Farmers” that reflects the brands commitment to USTC’s southeast based tobacco farmers who own the cooperative.
“We believe our new packaging design better reflects the needs of today’s consumers, while reinforcing the brands strength and heritage across the full line of 1839 cigarettes,” said USTC Senior Vice President Russ Mancuso.
July 29, 2022