Judge urges FDA to expedite graphic label requirements

A federal judge in Boston has ordered the Food and Drug Administration to expedite writing a rule that would mandate graphic warnings on cigarette packages and advertisements.

Judge Indira Talwani said Wednesday that the FDA is not working quickly enough to issue new mandates after past graphic warnings were thwarted in 2012 following challenges from tobacco companies, according to the Associated Press.

{mosads}Talwani told the FDA that it has until Sept. 26 to provide a schedule for creating a finalized graphic warning. 

She wrote the FDA “unlawfully withheld” or “unreasonably delayed” the dissemination of graphic warnings, according to The National Law Journal. 

The ruling is part of a case brought by multiple public health and medical groups in 2016, the AP reported.

Graphic warning labels with color images have been mandated on cigarette packages and advertisements since the 2009 passage of the Tobacco Control Act.

The FDA will continue “to move forward on the work to support a new rulemaking,” according to an FDA spokesman.

The spokesman also said the FDA will comply with the judge’s timeline, according to the AP.