Tobacco News

Cigarette packs are unlikely to carry graphic warning labels in the near future as a result of certain actions of the Supreme Court and the Food and Drug Administration. This is a setback, though perhaps temporarily, for the campaign of the federal government to reduce the damage to health caused by this very dangerous product. A positive feature is that the Supreme Court left intact most of the forces of the FDA’s regulation of the industry. Read more

For all of the administrative-territorial division of the country’s health care law, one provision has managed to put the two longtime rivals on the same side.
Big tobacco companies and anti activists stood in opposition to some of the Affordable Care Act, which allows insurance companies to charge smokers, 50 percent more than in patients who did not use tobacco. Read more

For most people, Philip Morris International, Inc (NYSE: PM) is a synonym for “big tobacco” – a favorite villain of the market each.
Over the last decade, developed countries have declared all-out war against the tobacco industry. By 2012, things look grim for tobacco manufacturers, and Europe – which account for 33% of all smokers in the world – has become so entangled in its debt crisis, that people even reduce cigarette purchases. Read more

Imperial Tobacco has been hit by a combination of new anti-smoking regulations, increased competition and tough conditions for consumers.

The Bristol-based company is one of the largest in the world and, like other big tobacco producers, it has seen its revenues fall in recent months.

As a result of the tough conditions the firm, which owns the Davidoff cigarettes and Gauloises brands, has seen a fall in cigarette sales over the last three months.
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The public health battle against obesity may be taking a cue from the states’ victory against the tobacco industry more than a decade ago.

“The more you look at the modern food industry, the more it looks like the tobacco industry,” Stanton Glantz, PhD, director of the University of California San Francisco’s Center for Tobacco Control Research and Education, explains in this exclusive video report.
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Plans to introduce plain packaging for cigarettes have led to calls for Westminster to transfer the power to control tobacco to Holyrood.

The SNP is closely following moves by Australia to bring in plain packaging for cigarettes, which the party is keen to emulate in Scotland.

However, any attempt to force tobacco companies to sacrifice individual branding in favour of plain wrapping and bigger health warnings would face a major hurdle, as it is still a matter reserved to Westminster.
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San Francisco Giants slugger Pat Burrell sneaks a pinch in the dugout – his lower lip swollen with a wad of chaw in his TV close-ups. At the plate, the back pocket of the Panda, Pablo Sandoval, bulges with a round tin of chewing tobacco. As the Giants battle the Philadelphia Phillies in the National League Championship Series, it’s hard to miss the signs of a chewing tobacco habit that Major League Baseball can’t seem to quit – even a decade after the minor leagues kicked chaw out of their dugouts. Ream more »

Once an economic engine whose marketing dollars blazed a trail for much of the sport’s expansion, the era of tobacco sponsorship in NASCAR will be extinguished quietly this month.
New rules enforced by the Food and Drug Administration will prevent cigarette and smokeless tobacco sponsorships in sporting events as of June 22. R.J. Reynolds pumped hundreds of millions into NASCAR’s premier series during a 31-year run as title sponsor with its Winston brand, but tobacco sponsorship shrunk after RJR’s 2003 departure.

Two teams backed by smokeless tobacco will be affected: the Longhorn-sponsored truck of Kevin Harvick Inc. and the Nationwide Series car of Baker-Curb Racing backed by Red Man. Harvick says his truck will run the rest of the season (and has found second-half sponsorship).

The future is less certain for Baker-Curb’s No. 27 Ford, which is eighth in points (with Greg Biffle starting 10 of its 12 races) and has two more races with Red Man. Team co-owner Gary Baker says the company considered staying with the team by using the same paint scheme without its logos but worried it would bring government scrutiny.
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(NBC) – American cigarette brands may contain the highest amounts of cancer-causing chemicals, according to new research from the centers for disease control and prevention.

Researchers studied over 100 smokers from the US, UK, Australia and Canada.

They measured the amount of chemicals, called TSNAS, in their cigarette butts, and collected urine samples.

They found American cigarettes, which included mostly popular brands, had the highest amounts of carcinogens when compared to foreign brands.
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Stressing the need to save young Filipinos from the dangers of cigarette smoking, a group of lawyers has asked the incoming administration to regulate further the packaging and labeling of tobacco products. The lawyers belonging to the non-government anti-tobacco coalition Health Justice, in a statement, also expressed full support for a Department of Health plan that would require tobacco manufacturers to print graphic picture health warnings on cigarette packs. Read more