Graphic Anti-Tobacco Sign Mandate on Hold

ALBANY, NY (06/29/2010)(readMedia)-- The City of New York has agreed to temporarily halt enforcement of a Board of Health Resolution requiring tobacco retailers to display graphic anti-smoking images, while a legal challenge to the Resolution is argued in federal court.

Enacted September 22, 2009, and enforceable since March 1, 2010, the Resolution requires stores selling tobacco to post at the cash register color posters depicting diseased lungs and other images intended to graphically illustrate the consequences of prolonged tobacco use. However, under a stay of enforcement signed June 24, the City's Board of Health agreed to not to take any action to enforce the Resolution until either January 1, 2011, or two weeks after the federal court decides the case, whichever comes first. That means that retailers who do not post the required signs will not be fined or penalized in any way.

"We're pleased that our customers won't have to be nauseated by these signs for the time being," said James Calvin, President of the New York Association of Convenience Stores, a co-plaintiff in the case. The other plaintiffs are retailers Kissena Boulevard Convenience Store and 23-34 94th Street Grocery Corp.; the New York State Association of Service Stations and Repair Shops; and tobacco manufacturers Philip Morris USA, R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co., and Lorillard Tobacco Co.

The plaintiffs are seeking a preliminary injunction barring the City from enforcing the Resolution on the grounds that it is preempted by federal law, violates the First Amendment, and violates the separation of powers doctrine.