Federal Cigarette Labeling and Advertising Act

The Federal Cigarette Labeling and Advertising Act (FCLAA) was passed in 1969 as part of the Public Health Cigarette Smoking Act. It required tobacco companies to inform consumers of the health risks associated with the use of cigarettes.

As the evidence of the health effects of cigarette smoking was mounting, in 1962 Dr. Luther L. Terry, then Surgeon General of the U.S. Public Heath Service, convened an advisory committee to examine the link between smoking and illness.

On January 11, 1964, the advisory committee concluded that "cigarette smoking is a health hazard of sufficient importance in the United States to warrant appropriate remedial action." On this date, the first Surgeon General's report was released, which definitively linked cigarette smoking with disease.

Congress enacted the Original Federal Cigarette Labeling and Advertising Act (FCLAA) in 1965. The Federal Trade Commission had proposed requiring warnings on containers and print advertisements, but the original FCLAA only required such warnings on packaging. The 1969 act went further and required warnings be placed within any and all print advertising of cigarettes. The 1969 act also banned cigarette advertising in any medium of electronic communication subject to the jurisdiction of the Federal Communications Commission.