With smoking being blamed for around 443,000 deaths in the US each year, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is imposing a new law that requires tobacco firms to place anti-smoking graphics on their cigarette packets starting September 2012. However, the proposed policy has sparked lawsuits from five US tobacco companies, which believe that the law violates their constitutional right to free speech, and in a way, its promoting governments anti-smoking campaign. The firms also say that the new labels, which may include images of dead bodies, diseased lungs and rotten teeth, will make consumers "depressed, discouraged and afraid" to buy their products. However, one of the biggest US tobacco firms, Altria - parent company of Philip Morris and maker of Marlboro cigarettes - has not joined in any of the legal action against the FDA.