<br><br> A lawsuit by a group of tobacco companies is the opening<a href="http://www.cigarettes-lover.com/">Marlboro cigarettes</a> salvo against a new federal law giving the Food and Drug Administration the authority to regulate the industry. The legal maneuver prompted harsh criticism from the medical community and public health organizations that strongly backed the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act, signed by President Obama in June.The federal statute for the first time gives the FDA the power to regulate the sale and distribution of tobacco products. While the law does not allow the agency to ban tobacco sales, it does give the FDA the authority to reduce nicotine levels, require new warning labels and bar <a href="http://www.xmasclothingdiscount.com/">Ed Hardy</a>certain marketing tactics, especially those aimed at children.American Public Health Assn. Executive Director Georges C. Benjamin, MD, said that because the federal law has yet to be fully implemented, the FDA must continue “full speed ahead” on its regulation effort rather than await the outcome of the lawsuit. “Tobacco is the leading preventable cause of death in the country, so millions of people will die if we don’t have the authority to regulate it.” <br><br> The lawsuit — filed Aug. 31 by two of the nation’s largest cigarette makers, R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. and Lorillard Tobacco Co., and several smaller manufacturers and retailers — does not challenge the congressional decision to give the FDA oversight of the industry. Rather, the companies charge that<a href="http://www.take2daydiet.com/botanical-slimming-c-18.html">Botanical Slimming Meizitang</a> certain marketing and advertising restrictions in the law violate their constitutional rights to free speech, according to the complaint filed against the FDA in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Kentucky.Legal experts expect the case to reach the U.S. Supreme Court. It’s not the first time tobacco companies have asserted such legal arguments, having fought numerous state tobacco-related restrictions in court with mixed outcomes. The Litigation Center of the American Medical Association and State Medical Societies has participated in several of those cases in support of stricter tobacco regulation. |