Court upholds block on graphic cigarette warnings

RICHMOND, Va. – The federal government can’t require tobacco companies to put large graphic health warnings on cigarette packages to show that smoking can disfigure and even kill people, a divided federal appeals court panel ruled Friday.

In a 2-1 decision, the U.S. Court of Appeals in Washington affirmed a lower court ruling that the requirement ran afoul of the First Amendment’s free speech protections. The appeals court tossed out the requirement and told the Food and Drug Administration to go back to the drawing board. The decision is considered a blow to one of the Obama administration’s major public health initiatives, raises the prospect of another U.S. Supreme Court tobacco battle and opens the door to further challenges of FDA’s regulatory scheme.

Some of the nation’s largest tobacco companies, including R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co., sued to block the mandate to include warnings to show the dangers of smoking and encouraging smokers to quit lighting up. They argued that the proposed warnings went beyond factual information into anti-smoking advocacy. The government argued the photos of dead and diseased smokers are factual in conveying the dangers of tobacco, which is responsible for about 443,000 deaths in the U.S. a year.

In the majority opinion, the appeals court wrote that the case raises “novel questions about the scope of the government’s authority to force the manufacturer of a product to go beyond making purely factual and accurate commercial disclosures and undermine its own economic interest — in this case, by making ‘every single pack of cigarettes in the country (a) mini billboard’ for the government’s anti-smoking message.”

Kodak wants to sell film, photo paper division

ROCHESTER, N.Y. – Kodak wants to sell its document imaging and personalized imaging businesses to better focus on printing and business services as it tries to emerge from Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.

Eastman Kodak Co. said Thursday that the sale of the units, along with cost-cutting measures and the auction of its patent portfolio, will help it emerge from bankruptcy sometime in 2013.

Kodak’s document-imaging division makes scanners and offers related software and services. The personalized imaging business includes photo paper and still-camera film products. It also offers souvenir photo products at theme parks and other venues.

Antonio Perez, Kodak’s chairman and CEO, said the planned sale is “an important step in our company’s reorganization to focus our business on the commercial markets.”

Bernanke says there is room for further action by Fed

WASHINGTON – Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke makes clear in a letter to a House lawmaker that he thinks the Fed can do more to bolster the economic recovery and help reduce unemployment.

Bernanke also defends steps the Fed has already taken.

“There is scope for further action by the Federal Reserve to ease financial conditions and strengthen the recovery,” Bernanke says in the letter, which responds to questions posed by California Rep. Darrell Issa, a Republican.

Issa is chairman of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform.

Bernanke notes in the letter that with interest rates already at record lows, the Fed has had to deploy other means to strengthen the economy, such as buying bonds. The goal of the bond purchases has been to lower rates to encourage borrowing and spending.