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N.Y. judge rules against anti-smoking ads

A Chinese security guard stands next to a "No smoking" sign posted on a construction site in Beijing November 28, 2010. Smoking could eventually kill a third of all young Chinese men if nothing is done to get them to drop the habit, according to the largest-to-date survey of tobacco use in the country. Two recent landmark studies involving 1.25 million Chinese people show that China has the largest number of smoking-related deaths in the world. UPI/Stephen Shaver
A Chinese security guard stands next to a "No smoking" sign posted on a construction site in Beijing November 28, 2010. Smoking could eventually kill a third of all young Chinese men if nothing is done to get them to drop the habit, according to the largest-to-date survey of tobacco use in the country. Two recent landmark studies involving 1.25 million Chinese people show that China has the largest number of smoking-related deaths in the world. UPI/Stephen Shaver | License Photo

NEW YORK, Dec. 30 (UPI) -- A New York judge has ruled against a city regulation requiring retailers to post "disgusting" anti-smoking ads near their tobacco products or cash registers.

Manhattan federal Judge Jed Rakoff said Wednesday mandating display of the "graphic, even gruesome images" is "forbidden" by a federal law regulating labeling and advertising of cigarettes, the New York Post reported.

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"Even merchants of morbidity are entitled to the full protection of the law, for our sake as well as theirs," Rakoff wrote in his ruling.

The New York City Health Department adopted the law in 2009 and designed three posters urging people to "Quit Smoking Today."

The city had agreed to stay enforcement of the law after tobacco companies filed suit in June.

"Tobacco companies that are trying to prevent these messages from being seen should be ashamed of themselves," the Health Department said in a statement, adding that the city will appeal Rakoff's ruling.

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