Predictably, tobacco manufacturers are up in arms and have made a legal motion to stop it, as reported in an article in the New York Times. Lawyers for the tobacco companies are arguing that the labels and pictures violate the First Amendment protections for commercial speech.
Protection of commercial speech should not safeguard the sale of product of significant public health (negative) impact. When you produce and sell a product that remains the leading cause of preventable death, killing 443,000 Americans a year according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and costs us (through increasing insurance premiums, Medicare and Medicaid) untold millions, then the Government does indeed have the right to use cigarette packages as mini-billboards for the government’s antismoking campaign.
I will be on vacation next week and hence will be blogging 'lightly'. I also plan to do some napping, to enhance my sense of well being during the break.
