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Our programs have been more than effective, and yet we are being forced to end. For years we have suffered through shortsighted decisions that were supposed to 'help' the economy, eight years of [settlement] payments directed to 'help the economy.' Clearly, these strategies are not working, because here we are yet again trying to help the economy.
— Gretchen Clark Hammond, an employee of Amethyst, Inc., an addiction treatment organization funded by the MSA. / Ohio House passes bill to raid state's anti-tobacco fund / Toledo (OH) Blade, Thursday, May 1, 2008.

History is history. We're honouring the man and what he achieved.
— Bathurst Deputy Mayor Ian North, on the life-sized sculpture, to be unveiled at Bathurst's Mount Panorama in October, which depicts Australian motor racing legend Peter Brock standing on the roof of his car--complete with original Marlboro cigarette advertising. One achievement--the propagation of cigarette advertising long, long after his death. / Sculpture of racing legend Peter Brock to display cigarette brand / Melbourne (Vic) Herald Sun (au), Friday, April 25, 2008.

Since getting the smoke alarm ashtray, I feel much safer in my home. I like the fact that you can take it to any room in the house and know that you are protected by a smoke alarm.
— John Wells, of Lebanon, Oregon, in a press release for Smokers ALERT®. / Chavers Corporation Announces Launch of Smokers ALERT® / PR Web, Friday, April 18, 2008.

The scope of the regulatory authority being granted in Section 906(d)(1) of H.R. 1108 to the FDA would allow the agency to adopt restrictions or regulations involving tobacco products based solely on public health concerns with no statutory obligation to take into account the negative impact on the thousands of small businesses that sell tobacco products.
— The American Wholesale Marketers Association (AWMA) and the National Association of Tobacco Outlets (NATO), which this week issued a joint letter to all 435 U.S. Representatives explaining serious concerns both national organizations have with the pending FDA bill. / Wholesalers And Tobacco Association Oppose Giving FDA Regulation Of Tobacco / AM Vending Group, Monday, April 21, 2008.

Doubt is our product.
— Quote from a 1969 B&W memo provides the basis for the title of a book that "reveals how the tobacco industry's duplicitous tactics spawned a multimillion dollar industry that is dismantling public health safeguards." / Doubt is Their Product: How Industry's Assault on Science Threatens Your Health / amazon.com, Friday, April 18, 2008.

They took us into their office and made us part of their family. God has truly given the sick Florida smokers two angels.
— Diana Duyser, whose husband, Gregg, has emphysema and was part of the original Engle suit, on the Rosenblatts. / Anti-tobacco lawyers awarded $218 million fee / Miami (FL) Herald, Thursday, April 17, 2008.

These are very interesting and potentially very, very important findings. They put nicotine front and center in smoking-related diseases, including lung cancer.
— Dr. Norman Edelman, chief medical officer of the American Lung Association, on the 3 studies that have identified specific gene variants that appear to make some smokers and former smokers more susceptible than others to cancer. / Lung Cancer Genes Identified / TIME Magazine, Wednesday, April 2, 2008.

Grocery stores are very important members of the community and New Yorkers need their leadership on this issue. This [tobacco] is the only product being sold by food markets that, when used as intended, will kill their customers and increase the number of those dying from devastating diseases like cancer.
— Health Commissioner Richard F. Daines, M.D., who is urging New York State supermarkets to be good neighbors and stop selling tobacco products. / For 'Kick Butts Day,' State Health Commissioner Urges Supermarkets to Kick Tobacco / New York State Department of Health, Friday, April 4, 2008.

While redressing injuries caused by the cigarette industry is 'one of the most troubling . . . problems facing our Nation today', . . . not every wrong can have a legal remedy, . . . at least not without causing collateral damage to the fabric of our laws. Plaintiffs' putative class action suffers from an insurmountable deficit of collective legal or factual questions.
— JOHN M. WALKER, JR., Circuit Judge, for the Appeals panel in Schwab. / McLAUGHLIN v. PHILIP MORRIS, et. al. (PDF) / US Court of Appeals For The Second Circuit, Thursday, April 3, 2008.

#??? the science in a submitted manuscript should be judged on its merits, one cannot fully appreciate a study's meaning without acknowledging the subtle biases in design and interpretation that may arise when a sponsor stands to gain from the report.
— After the Henschke/Liggett hurricane, an editorial from the NEJM. / EDITORIAL: Full Disclosure and the Funding of Biomedical Research / New England Journal of Medicine, Wednesday, April 2, 2008.

The administration believes that tobacco is not a device or a drug to be regulated by the F.D.A.
— White House spokeswoman Emily Lawrimore. / Bill to Regulate Tobacco Moves Forward / New York Times, Wednesday, April 2, 2008.

A lot of families will be very upset and disappointed. But donors and their families cannot choose who they give an organ to. All they can do is give other people the chance of a better life. What they choose to do with that is up to them.
— Pauline Weaver, a trustee of the charity Donor Family Network, which offers support to donors' relatives, on the finding that more than one in four heart transplant patients start smoking again after their operation. / A quarter of heart transplant patients start smoking again, researchers reveal / The Mail (uk), Monday, March 31, 2008.

While the State has legislated restrictions on smoking in certain areas, a civil ordinance which adds areas does not in any way conflict with State law.
— South Carolina's Supreme Court thwarts pre-emption in the state. / SC Supreme Court upholds local ban on public smoking / AP, Monday, March 31, 2008.

Taking money from the tobacco industry to conduct scientific research is like the DA taking money from the Mafia to conduct investigations of crime.
— Gregory Connolly, a Harvard School of Public Health professor and former director of the Massachusetts Tobacco Control Program. / Tobacco funded Mass. researchers / Boston (MA) Globe, Monday, March 31, 2008.

I can't see how any research that I have done plays into any marketing campaign. I'm relatively willing to take research funds from anyone that will help me help people.
— Cancer Research Center Director Douglas Faller, who received $268,759 from the Philip Morris Foundation for a 2004 study involving cancer treatment. / Tobacco grants funded BU cancer research / The Daily Free Press (Boston University), Thursday, March 27, 2008.

You have to ask yourself the question, ‘Why did the tobacco company want to support her research?’ They want to show that lung cancer is not so bad as everybody thinks because screening can save people; and that’s outrageous.
— Dr. Jerome Kassirer, a former editor of The New England Journal of Medicine and the author of a book about conflicts of interest, on Liggett funding of the Weill Cornell lung cancer CT screening study. / Cigarette Company Paid for Lung Cancer Study / New York Times, Wednesday, March 26, 2008.

If you’re using blood money, you need to tell people you’re using blood money.
— Dr. Otis Brawley, chief medical officer of the American Cancer Society, which gave Dr. Henschke more than $100,000 in grants from 2004 to 2007, money it would not have provided had it known of Liggett’s grants. / Cigarette Company Paid for Lung Cancer Study / New York Times, Wednesday, March 26, 2008.

[T]he evidence presented supports the old adage 'Don’t smoke. It will stunt your growth', at least in boys.
— Lead author Dr. Jennifer O'Loughlin, with the Department of Social and Preventive Medicine at the University of Montreal. / Smoking won't help teens lose weight, may stunt growth: study / CBC News (ca), Monday, March 24, 2008.

Tobacco use will kill 1 billion people this century, a 10- fold increase over the previous 100 years, unless governments in poor nations raise taxes on consumption and mandate health warnings, the World Health Organization said in February.
— Bloomberg story on Imperial's purchase of Altadis. It's unusual to see a purely business story also point out the health costs of tobacco. / Imperial Forecasts Costs of $281 Million on Altadis (Update3) / Bloomberg News, Wednesday, March 19, 2008.

By treating 300 NASCAR fans as VIPs and letting them say the most famous words in motorsports live on ESPN2, Nicorette is raising the bar for sponsors making fans part of the sport.
— Steve Phelps, NASCAR chief marketing officer, on the 300 Grand Marshals -- the largest group ever to have this role at a NASCAR race --who will get VIP treatment, take a bow at pre-race introductions and command the Nationwide Series drivers to fire their engines to start the Nicorette 300. / Fans to serve as Grand Marshals for Nicorette 300 / NASCAR.com, Friday, March 7, 2008.

We are trying to make the tobacco companies aware of the devastating effect of their own products. If you create a mess, you have to clean it up.
— Lead Nigerian prosecutor Maryam Uwais. / Nigeria Vows Tighter Tobacco Controls / VOANews.com (Voice of America), Monday, March 17, 2008.

The irony is that . . . the lawyer who revealed how many other lawyers buried documents and were complicit in the tobacco industry's cover-up is the only one who is likely to go to jail.
— Matt Myers, president of the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, on Richard Scruggs' bribery guilty plea. / Legal legend Dickie Scruggs pleads guilty in bribery / Los Angeles Times, Saturday, March 15, 2008.

This court has concluded that neither the Constitution of the United States nor the Ohio Constitution creates a fundamental right to smoke in public. The court declines to fabricate such a right.
— Hamilton County (OH) Common Pleas Judge Fred Nelson. / Court rules smoking ban is constitutional / Dayton (OH) Daily News, Monday, March 10, 2008.

[H]e’s the head of a country. . . . He’s not only the Vicar of Christ. He’s also the defender of man. Who’s going to protect us if he doesn’t?
— Dr. Claude Curran, a Mass. psychiatrist treating addicts and co-founder of Physicians and Nurses Against Tobacco, which will petition Pope Benedict XVI when he visits the United States in April “to declare the Vatican the world’s first country to ban tobacco in its entirety.” / Doctors aim to ban tobacco in the Vatican / Fall River (MA) Herald News, Friday, March 7, 2008.

We found no evidence to support the claim that smoking is associated with pleasure, either in people from lower socio-economic groups or in the general population. People may feel like they're getting pleasure when they smoke a cigarette but in fact smokers are likely to be less happy overall - the pleasure they feel from having a smoke comes only because they're addicted. These results show smoking doesn't make you happy - in fact, it is associated with poorer overall quality of life.
— Researcher Dr Iain Lang, of England's Peninsula Medical School / Smoking doesn't make you happy / EurekAlert, Thursday, March 6, 2008.

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