RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — A federal judge in Kentucky says the U.S. Food and Drug Administration must let tobacco companies use color and graphics in their advertising.
U.S. District Judge Joseph McKinley ruled late Monday that some marketing restrictions in the law giving the FDA authority over tobacco products violate tobacco companies’ free speech rights.
R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co., maker of Camel cigarettes; Lorillard, which sells Newport menthols, and other tobacco companies sued in August to block the restrictions, part of a law passed in June.
McKinley also ruled the FDA can’t bar anyone from saying the agency’s regulation of tobacco makes it safe.