| TOBACCO: Altria Drops New Filter Cigarettes, In Strategy Setback
by VANESSA O'CONNELL, The Wall Street Journal June 23rd, 2008 The nation's largest cigarette maker, Altria Group Inc.'s Philip Morris USA, has failed in yet another attempt to sell Americans on a potentially safer cigarette, pulling the plug on Marlboro Ultra Smooth, a version of Marlboro that used a high-technology filter. |
| TOBACCO: FTC Counters Altria In 'Light' Cigarettes Case
by LAUREN POLLOCK, The Wall Street Journal June 20th, 2008 The Federal Trade Commission is asking the Supreme Court to reject Altria Group Inc.'s argument that only that agency can regulate cigarette advertising, saying such an interpretation mischaracterizes the FTC's "scope and effect" on the issue. |
| TOBACCO: Profits in Hand, Wealthy Family Cuts Tobacco Tie
by STEPHANIE SAUL, The New York Times June 11th, 2008 Now, the next generation of Tisches has removed tobacco from the portfolio of the conglomerate they lead, the Loews Corporation, spinning off its tobacco unit, Lorillard, as a stand-alone business, with the Newport brand representing more than 90 percent of the new company’s revenue. The new stock began trading Tuesday, and analysts have said the new company might be a takeover target. |
| US: Calstrs May Remove
Ban on Tobacco Stocks
by CRAIG KARMIN, The New York Times June 5th, 2008 In a move that could reverberate throughout the fund industry, the nation's second-largest pension fund is considering lifting a nearly eight-year ban on tobacco investments. |
| US: Opposition to Menthol Cigarettes Grows
by STEPHANIE SAUL, The New York Times June 5th, 2008 The seven, from Democratic and Republican administrations, faxed a letter to members of the Senate and House of Representatives demanding that menthol-flavored cigarettes be banned just like various other cigarette flavorings the legislation would outlaw. |
| US: At One University, Tobacco Money Is a Secret by ALAN FINDER, The New York Times May 22nd, 2008 On campuses nationwide, professors and administrators have passionately debated whether their universities should accept money for research from tobacco companies. But not at Virginia Commonwealth University, a public institution in Richmond, Va. |
| US: Cigarette Bill Treats Menthol With Leniency
by STEPHANIE SAUL, The New York Times May 13th, 2008 Some public health experts are questioning why menthol, the most widely used cigarette flavoring and the most popular cigarette choice of African-American smokers, is receiving special protection as Congress tries to regulate tobacco for the first time. |
| UK: Retailers in tobacco price probe BBC NEWS April 25th, 2008 n the case of Gallaher, Imperial Tobacco, Asda, Sainsbury, Shell, Somerfield and Tesco, there was an indirect exchange of proposed future retail prices between competitors, it adds, allegedly between 2001 and 2003. |
| US: Reynolds Ads Oppose Move to Regulate Tobacco
by STEPHANIE SAUL, The New York Times April 1st, 2008 As legislation moves through Congress that would empower the F.D.A. to regulate the tobacco industry, Reynolds, whose brands include Camel cigarettes, is attacking what it views as the bill’s vulnerability: a weak, overextended F.D.A. |
| US: Cigarette Company Paid for Lung Cancer Study
by GARDINER HARRIS, The New York Times March 26th, 2008 Prominent cancer researchers and journal editors, told of the foundation by The Times, said they were stunned to learn of Dr. Henschke’s association with Liggett. |
| US: Some Campuses Decide Tobacco Company Money Is ‘Tainted’
by ALAN FINDER, The New York Times February 4th, 2008 Across academia, universities and graduate schools are wrestling with whether to accept financing from tobacco companies for research or student activities. In the past few years, 15 public health and medical schools have turned away donations from the industry; McCombs’ move was unusual because of its longstanding ties to an array of corporations. |
| US: Altria to spin off foreign cigarette unit March 28 by Vinnee Tong, Associated Press January 31st, 2008 Altria Group Inc. said Wednesday it would spin off its international tobacco business on March 28, freeing it to pursue cigarette sales more aggressively without ties to its U.S. counterpart - and U.S. regulatory oversight. |
| NIGERIA: Nigeria delays $44bn smoking case by BBC News, BBC January 14th, 2008 A court in Nigeria has adjourned a multi-billion dollar lawsuit brought by the government against three major tobacco firms until March. |
| US: Nicotine boost was deliberate, study says by Stephen Smith, Boston Globe January 18th, 2007 Data supplied by tobacco companies strongly suggest that in recent years manufacturers deliberately boosted nicotine levels in cigarettes to more effectively hook smokers, Harvard researchers conclude in a study being released today. |
| US: Tobacco Deal Haunts Contender for WHO Chief by John Lyons and Betsy McKay, Wall Street Journal October 24th, 2006 Julio Frenk was a finalist for the top job at the World Health Organization three years ago. The post is available again, but the Mexican health minister's latest campaign for the job may go up in smoke. |
| US: Tobacco firms to face US class action over 'light' cigarettes by Simon Bowers, The Guardian (UK) September 26th, 2006 Leading tobacco firms in the US, including British American Tobacco, are to face a class action lawsuit seeking punitive damages of up to $200bn (£105bn) relating to the alleged fraudulent promotions suggesting "light" branded cigarettes are safer, or less addictive, than regular ones. |
| US: Tobacco Makers Lose Key Ruling on Latest Suits by David Cay Johnston and Melanie Warner , The New York Times September 26th, 2006 In a legal blow to the tobacco industry, a federal judge in Brooklyn ruled yesterday that people who smoked light cigarettes that were often promoted as a safer alternative to regular cigarettes can press their fraud claim as a class-action suit. |
| US: BAT shredded evidence helpful to dying smokers' claims, judge says by Simon Bowers, The Guardian August 22nd, 2006 British American Tobacco lawyers are planning to appeal against what the company called "vile" findings against it - particularly in relation to its systematic shredding of legally sensitive documents - contained in a 1,700-page judicial opinion delivered at the end of one of the largest civil trials ever heard in the US. |
| US: Big tobacco's got a 2-pack legal habit by Al Lewis, The Denver Post July 17th, 2006 Isaac Enginda, 51, says he doesn't know how two packs of counterfeit Newport cigarettes may have ended up in the liquor store he owns in an industrial neighborhood in northeast Denver. |
| NEW ZEALAND: Tobacco company's claims disputed One News July 14th, 2006 On it's website, British and American Tobacco says many claims against environmental or second hand smoking have been overstated. |