Reading this newspaper might cause paper cuts. Or, for Web users -- WARNING: Reading this page might cause eye strain. We doubt those warnings would cause many readers to stop using Star Press products.
If this sounds silly, then one has to question the efficacy of the government forcing cigarette makers to slap graphic photos on their packages starting in 2012. The Food and Drug Administration has approved nine new warnings to rotate on cigarette packs. They will be printed on the entire top half, front and back, of the packaging. The new warnings also must constitute 20 percent of any cigarette advertising, and will include a number for a stop-smoking hotline.
One warning label is a picture of a corpse with its chest sewed up and the words: "Smoking can kill you." Another label has a picture of a healthy pair of lungs beside a yellow and black pair with a warning that smoking causes fatal lung disease.
Four of the five largest cigarette makers filed a suit last week in federal court, saying the warnings violate their free speech rights.
The companies say the warnings no longer simply convey facts to allow people to make a decision on whether to smoke. Instead, they force companies to advocate for the government to stop smoking -- on a legal product -- more prominently than they display their own brands.
We're not sure corporations have free speech rights like you and me, but we do know the new labeling is silly, smacks of hypocrisy and is a perfect example of the overreach of government regulation.
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