Email
Password
(Forgot Password?)
A federal judge has turned down a request by the nation's No. 2 cigarette-maker and others to immediately halt enforcement of new federal regulations on tobacco products.
Their challenge to new U.S. Food and Drug Administration powers to regulate what tobacco firms say about their products has little likelihood of success, except on one point, Judge Joseph H. McKinley Jr. of the U.S. District Court in Bowling Green, Ky., ruled yesterday.
Because of that, and because the businesses couldn't show they faced irreparable harm, McKinley rejected tobacco companies' request for a preliminary injunction stopping FDA enforcement of rules limiting what they say about products they believe reduce the risk of using tobacco.
Jump to full article »
In a clear victory for public health, a federal judge in Kentucky today rejected a motion by tobacco companies to block key provisions of the new law giving the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) the power to regulate tobacco products. Specifically, today's decision strongly supports the government's authority to prevent the industry from making health claims about its products without FDA approval.
We applaud the federal court's decision to quickly and decisively reject the latest attempt by Big Tobacco to frustrate the intent of the new FDA law and allow the agency to get on with its role in putting an end to deceptive and dangerous tobacco marketing.
Eleven public health and consumer advocacy groups joined in the legal effort to thwart the industry's challenge to the law based on the claim that its First Amendment rights were violated.
By the time you're done reading this column, combustible tobacco smoking will claim four more American lives — and a total of 440,000 lives this year.
Electronic cigarettes — battery-operated products that deliver an inhalable nicotine vapor — offer a much needed alternative. . . .
Electronic cigarettes are not drugs, nor are they sold to cure any disease or affliction. Therefore, the FDA has no authority to regulate or ban them as drug-delivery devices.
But by attempting to mislabel them as medical devices, the FDA wants to force manufacturers to spend as much as $1.5 billion on clinical research, drug trials and FDA fees for potential marketplace approval. We are not large drug companies capable of this type of investment, and the FDA knows it.
President Obama just signed a landmark law giving the FDA authority to regulate virtually all aspects of tobacco products. We understand that to protect the public, some form of regulation may be necessary and would welcome regulation under the new and more reasonable authority. This process wouldn't take us off the shelf or cost hundreds of millions of dollars, and would still provide necessary safeguards. Our goal is to guarantee access for committed smokers who want the freedom of the clear alternative that e-cigarettes offer and ensure that minors do not have access to our products.
A federal judge ruled Thursday that tobacco companies hoping to block new restrictions on their marketing have little chance of succeeding.
The companies had asked U.S. District Judge Joseph H. McKinley Jr. to issue a preliminary injunction in a lawsuit they filed in August claiming new tobacco regulations violate their right to free speech.
The companies, including two of the industry's three largest, are challenging provisions of a law that gave the U.S. Food and Drug Administration new authority over tobacco. In a 29-page decision, McKinley outlined the arguments in the lawsuit and found that blocking the provisions was not warranted. . . .
The companies say the law, which takes full effect over three years, prohibits them from using "color lettering, trademarks, logos or any other imagery in most advertisements, including virtually all point-of-sale and direct-mail advertisements." Their complaint also says the law prohibits tobacco companies from "making truthful statements about their products in scientific, public policy and political debates."
The tobacco makers say new mandated warnings for cigarettes would relegate their branding to the bottom half of cigarette packaging and make it "difficult, if not impossible, to see."
In its response to the lawsuit, the FDA said the new marketing rules do not restrict free speech and serve a greater public health interest.
R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co.'s bid to carve out a "free speech" marketing niche for innovative products was dealt a blow today.
A U.S. District Court judge in Richmond denied a motion for a preliminary injunction sought by Reynolds and other tobacco manufacturers regarding The Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act.
A lawsuit was filed Aug. 31 against the federal government and the Food and Drug Administration by Reynolds, Conwood Co. LLC, a sister company with Reynolds American Inc., Lorillard Inc. and Commonwealth Brands Inc.
The companies had sought a preliminary injunction against The Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act. They said they are trying to "protect their First Amendment right to communicate with adult tobacco consumers about their products."
But Judge Joseph McKinley ruled that the "plaintiffs have little likelihood of success" in their challenge to the modified risk tobacco products provision in the law.
As the debate heats up concerning the use of electronic cigarettes, Electronic Cigarette Association (ECA) President Matt Salmon today encouraged those involved in this discussion to carefully and honestly study how these devices work and recognize that the more than one million adult committed smokers, who use electronic cigarettes, are seeking an alternative to combustible cigarettes that contain a multitude of toxic, harmful chemicals.
The debate on these devices has intensified in recent months as events have fueled and focused attention on electronic cigarettes, including a front-page story last week and a follow-up editorial in yesterday's edition of USA Today and stories or editorials in other major newspapers such as the New York Times and Los Angeles Times. Governor Schwarzenegger's veto of a bill that would have denied California citizens the right to purchase electronic cigarettes and a warning by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) based on a flawed, narrow study have also contributed to the growing debate.
"Unfortunately, many of the arguments we've seen recently against electronic cigarettes have been driven by fear of the unknown, insufficient evidence, political agendas, and ignorance about our members' products," said Salmon. "As in the case of California Governor Schwarzenegger, we've found that reasonable people, when willing to honestly and intellectually evaluate the information about electronic cigarettes, find that these products provide smokers a viable alternative to combustible tobacco cigarettes."
With the enactment of the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act on June 22, the United States entered a new era in tobacco control and prevention. . . .
This issue of the NCI Cancer Bulletin highlights several important tobacco control research studies supported by NCI. In the largest trial of its kind to date, researchers from the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center found that telephone counseling using motivational interviewing and cognitive behavioral approaches significantly improved 6-month cessation rates in older teens. Given that 20 percent of American high school seniors smoke cigarettes, and that few strategies have been effective at promoting cessation among teen smokers, this finding is very significant. This issue also highlights a study of mobile phone technology provided to DC Tobacco Quitline callers and the expansion of Smokefree.gov, including new links to social media, such as Facebook, that take advantage of interactive Web technologies to reach new audiences for smoking cessation.
NCI's tobacco control research cannot be limited to the United States, where, as in most high-income countries, tobacco use is slowly declining. By 2030, global mortality from tobacco use is expected to rise to 8 million deaths per year. About 80 percent of those deaths will occur in low- and middle-income countries, where tobacco use is still increasing. Research will be critical to averting this global epidemic, which threatens to reverse hard-won improvements in global health and which economically developing countries with overburdened health care systems can ill afford.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is moving quickly to use its sweeping new tobacco powers despite facing swift legal action from cigarette makers, the agency's tobacco chief told Reuters on Tuesday.
Dr. Lawrence Deyton said lawsuits from companies such as Reynolds American Inc (RAI.N), Lorillard Inc (LO.N) and others are not slowing his work to set up the FDA's tobacco unit or take action against products that harm the public, especially children.
"Congress is very clear what it wants me to do, I'm moving ahead. Nobody's told me not to," Deyton said in an interview at his office in suburban Maryland.
Burned by the recent US ban on kretek cigarettes, Trade Minister Mari Pangestu said government officials would soon meet with their US counterparts in an effort to alleviate smoldering tension over the issue.
Kretek cigarettes were banned by the US Food and Drug Administration on Sept. 21 on the grounds that their sweet flavor encouraged young people to take up smoking.
“We will arrange a meeting and will be having consultations to seek a fair solution to this matter,” Mari told the Jakarta Globe on Tuesday.
The discussions, Mari said, are a preliminary response, but if no solution is found, then “at the end, it will be taken to the World Trade Organization.”
Mari said previously that the ban was highly detrimental to this country’s clove farmers and was in breach of WTO rules. . . .
Kretek International is apparently not going to take the issue lying down and is now seeking a declaratory ruling from the US District Court in Washington that its cigars are not cigarettes and can therefore be freely sold.
In its petition, it accused the FDA of “deliberately obfuscating” the definition of cigarette,” adding that “If a product is a cigar, it is not a cigarette, and vice versa.”
Wellstone Filters Sciences, Inc. (OTC Bulletin Board: WFSN), the leading modified risk cigarette filter company, is pleased to announce that it participated in the FDA's conference call regarding the guidance document entitled "Registration and Product Listing for Owners and Operators of Domestic Tobacco Product Establishments."
During the conference call, Wellstone's CEO L.J. Hand focused on the need for clarification of registration by companies such as Wellstone who participate in only part of the manufacturing process. Wellstone is a filter technology company dedicated to research, discovery and development of methods and compounds that remove a wide range of toxins and carcinogens without impairing consumer acceptance.
Some points made in your recent article, "Agency warns of candy-like tobacco" (Oct. 26) need to be clarified and corrected. The dissolvable tobacco products made and marketed by R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. -- Camel Orbs, Sticks and Strips -- are not "tobacco candy." In fact, these are tobacco products and are sold on the same store shelves as other tobacco products. They carry the same health warnings as other smokeless tobacco products. Their sale is age-restricted and their packaging is child-resistant.
Dissolvable tobacco products have been sold in the U.S. for a number of years.
R.J. Reynolds will work closely with the FDA's Tobacco Products Scientific Advisory Committee and provide any information needed in its analysis of dissolvable tobacco products.
The fruit-flavored cigarette ban was the FDA's first high-profile move, which was hailed by health advocates but criticized by smokers and business owners.
"Before now, tobacco was the only consumable product that wasn't regulated," said Brad Burk, director of federal government relations for the American Cancer Society, Great Lakes Division. "It's going to go a long way in helping people to stop cigarette smoking."
But Glover, who plans to quit smoking clove cigarettes when she has no more, doesn't believe banning them is going to make people quit smoking.
"Some of my friends are turning to cigarettes," said Glover, a Clarkston resident.
On the day before the ban began, many local tobacco retailers were keeping the products on their shelves to avoid losing the money they invested in inventory.
As of last week, the clove cigarette and many of its other flavored brethren like vanilla and chocolate are now contraband. If you want some cloves now, you may want to try to find shifty-looking guys in trench coats standing outside tobacconist’s shops.
Now that the regulation of tobacco products has fallen under the purview of the Food and Drug Administration, the types of cigarettes that are seen as “enticing children to smoke” are now being taken away.
We understand the logic behind this move, as many people who start smoking often begin their habit with flavored cigarettes. . . .
But, we can’t help but think that a kid who wants to smoke is still going to find a way to smoke, even if a flavored alternative is not available.
Part of growing up and becoming an adult is learning the decisions you make have consequences on your life.
If we allow the government to continue to ban products for the “safety of our children,” how long will it be before we see a ban on grape Kool-Aid, since it is well known to be the main ingredient of the dreaded “purple drank”?
In today’s day and age, anyone who doesn’t know that cigarettes will kill you is obviously somehow deficient and shouldn’t be allowed to make decisions.
For the rest of us, the choice is, and should continue to be, ours to make.
"As marketing restrictions become stronger the pack becomes the best marketing tool," Hammond says. "When the words come off the pack, the industry relies on colors to a greater extent then they used to."
For example, Pall Mall recently removed descriptors like "full flavor" and "light," relying entirely on the color of the pack and the names of colors to identify each flavor.
"Of course, brands have always used colors," Hammond says. "The so called strengths of brands are aligned with the strengths of colors, and many smokers use colors as an indicator of risk. For example, red is perceived to be stronger than blue."
In other words, as the flavors get "lighter," so the do the colors. . . .
"Orange is a very interesting choice," Bansal-Travers says. "No other brand I can think of uses orange as a cigarette pack color, but orange is certainly the lightest that PM uses, creating a spectrum of color and trying to equate that with the spectrum of risk."
Primary design changes: Flavor descriptors, such as "Filter" and "Light," have been dropped, replaced with the names of colors.
Secondary design changes: The phrase "Famous American Cigarettes" has been moved to the bottom. While the logo and Latin phrases "Per aspera ad astra" ("Through hardships to the stars") and "In hoc signo vinces" ("By this sign you shall conquer") remain, the phrases "KING SIZE BOX" and "Wherever particular people congregate" have been removed from the front of the boxes.
For its Salem brand, manufacturer RJ Reynolds has changed the coloring of the packs and the descriptor terms.
The faint scent of cherry, vanilla or chocolate can no longer be detected in the cigarette smoke that lingers over the small patch of asphalt leading past Rand Hall or the walkway adjoining Uris and Olin Libraries. The smoke of regular, straight tobacco prevails these days as a direct result of a recent federal ban on cigarettes enhanced with fragrances.
The ban, which took effect Sept. 22, applies to the manufacture, shipment or sale of cigarettes flavored to taste like cloves, candy or fruit. As part of a national effort by the Food and Drug Administration to reduce smoking in the United States, this provision belongs to the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act, which President Barack Obama signed into law on June 22. . . .
Drawing from his personal experiences, Jin-Sung Kim ’11 noted that he has never observed somebody start to smoke with flavored cigarettes. “The effectiveness of such a ban seems tenuous at best. Most smokers [that I know] have experimented with flavored cigarettes only after smoking for a while,” he said. “It seems like this ban might be hurting clove cigarette aficionados more than it is helping keep the youth smoke-free.”
Local Ithaca smoke shops have felt the subtle effects of the ban, as consumers look for close substitutes to flavored cigarettes. According to Brian Watson, a sales employee at Mayers’ Smokeshop and Newsstand, “[the ban] has made a small dent [in sales], but the ban seems to be more punitive than anything to be concerned about.”