Graphic Cigarettes Warnings Required

A bid by tobacco companies to overrule a court judgment that they must do corrective advertising about the dangers of smoking is getting a chilly response from a federal appeals court. The companies want District Judge Gladys Kessler's order overturned because a 2009 law gave the Food and Drug Administration authority over the industry, including power to require graphic cigarette warnings. In a Justice Department lawsuit, Kessler ruled in 2006 that America's largest cigarette makers concealed the dangers of smoking for decades. The tobacco companies argue the 2009 law prevents them from making fraudulent statements. They say that negates the need for "corrective statements" Kessler ordered. But Judge David Sentelle noted Friday that in a separate case the industry is challenging the constitutionality of the very law the companies cite.