Tobacco.org Updates

THIS WEEK'S HOT SPOTS:

It's all over but the last appeal! The 10-year saga of the DOJ trial continues--to the Supreme Court. Visit: http://www.tobacco-on-trial.com.
Late-Breaking DOJ Trial News is here: http://www.tobacco.org/articles/lawsuit/doj/

Latest Top Tobacco Headlines

Latest Quotes

  • “[T]hese observations can be interpreted as either neuroprotection from continuous and long-term exposure to smoke components or as reverse causation: patients who later develop PD are more successful in their attempts to quit smoking, an observation which has been attributed to prodromal PD reducing dopamine reward mechanisms before motor symptoms are noticeable. This dichotomy highlights a key issue in observational research: are observed risk (or protective) factors in fact contributing to disease occurrence or, rather, are they a proxy for an unmeasured factor, such as a 'PD personality' or genetics?”
    Dr. Ritz and Dr. Rhodes, in an editorial on their study on the association between smoking and the reduced risk for Parkinson's disease (PD).
    » Duration of Smoking, Not Intensity, Associated With Reduced Parkinson's Risk , Medscape (Friday, March 12, 2010)
  • “Don't punish the company just for making profits.”
    RJR attorney Mark Avera, to jurors in the Hall case
    » $17.5M verdict in tobacco suit sets a record in the Alachua County, Gainesville (FL) Sun (Saturday, March 13, 2010)
  • “Lamar Hall was the perfect victim of the biggest conspiracy you will ever hear about.”
    Attorney Rod Smith, in closing arguments.
    » Alachua Co. jury awards $12.5M in punitive damages against R.J. Reynolds, Gainesville (FL) Sun (Friday, March 12, 2010)
  • “[T]he first thing the prison gave me was a roll of baccy, a box of matches and some papers. I’ve smoked more here than I ever did outside.”
    Nick Hogan, the former landlord of The Swan and Barristers in Bradshawgate, who was jailed after failing to pay more than £10,000 in fines and costs.
    » Freed smoking ban rebel thanks blogger who led £8,500 release fund campaign , This is Bolton / Bolton Evening News (BEN) (uk) (Thursday, March 11, 2010)
  • “Plaintiffs’ argument is apparently based on the simplistic notion that a private organization with a private clubhouse has a constitutional right to privacy. Upon the merits of the argument, the city pointed out that a right to privacy action requires the existence of a fundamental privacy interest and that no court, to date, had recognized the smoking of tobacco as a fundamental right.”
    Kansas Supreme Court, in its decision Friday upholding Newton’s smoking ban.
    » Supreme Court upholds smoking ban , Newton Kansan (Saturday, March 6, 2010)
  • “Isn't that the way things go in the American system?”
    Richard Nephew, co-chairman of the Seneca Nation's foreign relations committee, on what the NY Times calls "a campaign of back-room lobbying and public political threats that appears to have shut down legislation [to block tax-free cigarette shipments] and kept the tribe in the cigarette business, a case study in the power of a well-financed special interest to thwart what had seemed to be a national consensus.
    » Senecas See Comeback Over Sale of Cigarettes , New York Times (Saturday, March 6, 2010)
  • “The conduct of R.J. Reynolds tobacco company had no effect on Mr. Hall.”
    R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. attorney Dennis Murphy, to jurors in an Engle-progeny case.
    » Wrongful death suit against tobacco firms gets under way , Gainesville (FL) Sun (Wednesday, March 3, 2010)
  • “We think that the establishment of the tobacco products scientific advisory committee brings an opportunity to provide what we think is really important, which is a science-based regulatory agenda.”
    David Sylvia, a spokesman for Altria Group.
    » FDA names tobacco scientific advisory panel , Richmond (VA) Times-Dispatch (Tuesday, March 2, 2010)
  • “
  • Organic tobacco does NOT mean safer tobacco.
  • Organic tobacco does NOT mean safer cigarettes.
    • ”
Prominent warnings mandated in ads for Natural American Spirit products, according to the agreement signed 2/23 by Santa Fe Natural Tobacco Company and 33 states and DC.
» Brown Secures Agreement with American Spirit Cigarettes Maker over Misleading Marketing of Organic Tobacco Products, California Attorney General's Office (Monday, March 1, 2010)
  • “Our guests, quite frankly, are taken aback by the smoking in our city. There's no getting around it. It's starting to affect the city's image, and not in a good way. . . . In order to be perceived as being a more progressive city, we have to have a smoking ban.”
    Jeff Sweet, president of the Greater Indianapolis Hotel and Lodging Association and general manager of Hilton Indianapolis Hotel and Suites.
    » Officials: Weak smoking ban hurts city's hospitality efforts, Indianapolis (IN) Business Journal (Saturday, February 27, 2010)
    • MORE QUOTES »