Tobacco companies manipulate products to attract kids
Editor
Sep 4, 2012
An editorial in The New York Times calls on elected officials and the Food and Drug Administration to close tax and regulatory loopholes that tobacco companies have exploited to keep some products cheap, flavored and appealing to kids.
"Give the tobacco industry credit for ingenuity," the Times wrote. "Just when it looked as if federal regulators could block their ability to addict children and young adults, several companies that make cigars and pipe tobacco have sidestepped the barriers by taking advantage of loopholes in federal law."
Continue reading NY Times Editorial: Close Loopholes in Tobacco Regulation
posted September 04, 2012
New York Times criticizes ruling against new cigarette warnings
Editor
Aug 28, 2012
An editorial in The New York Times harshly criticized the court ruling last week that struck down the graphic cigarette warnings required by Congress under a 2009 law.
In a 2 to 1 ruling, a panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit on Friday found that the new warnings violated the First Amendment rights of tobacco companies. The majority opinion ignored the significant scientific evidence demonstrating that graphic warnings are most effective at communicating the health risks of smoking, discouraging children and other nonsmoker from starting to smoke and motivating smokers to quit.
Continue reading “Warning: Smoking Can Kill You”
posted August 28, 2012
Elected officials must accelerate proven strategies
Editor
Aug 20, 2012
Matthew L. Myers, president of the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, has written an op-ed in The Huffington Post warning against complacency in the fight against tobacco use and calling on elected officials in the United States to finish the fight against the nation’s number one cause of preventable death.
Continue reading Let’s Finish the Fight Against Tobacco
posted August 20, 2012
As U.S. appeals court weighs case, Canada forges ahead
Editor
Apr 10, 2012
As an appeals court in Washington heard arguments today on the tobacco industry's lawsuit to block graphic cigarette warnings in the United States, an editorial in The New York Times called the suit a "bogus challenge" that is all too typical of tobacco industry tactics.
"The tobacco industry has never been bashful about fighting back against attempts to regulate the promotion of its deadly, addictive products," the Times wrote. "The latest is an effort to derail new regulations requiring large health warnings on cigarette packages by making baseless First Amendment claims."
Continue reading Big Tobacco’s Challenge to New Cigarette Warnings Called “Bogus”
posted April 10, 2012
Youth advocate tells FDA panel of dangerous confusion on dissolvable products
Editor
Jan 20, 2012
Brightly colored packages for products labeled "fresh," "wintergreen" and "java" just aren't what they seem, youth tobacco-control advocate Judy Hou says.
"They're these little packages that you can stick in your pocket," says Hou. "They look like Tic Tacs."
In fact, they're dissolvable tobacco products, and the subject of Food and Drug Administration hearings this week on whether these new smokeless products and the marketing used to promote them appeal to kids and pose a public health threat.
Continue reading Mints, Gum, Candy — or Tobacco?
posted January 20, 2012
Say latest legal challenge is another bid to push deadly product
Editor
Aug 29, 2011
Newspapers around the country have reached their own verdict on the latest tobacco companies' lawsuit challenging the new, graphic cigarette pack warning labels required under the 2009 law giving the Food and Drug Administration the authority to regulate tobacco.
The decision: Big Tobacco is guilty again.
Continue reading Newspapers Slam Big Tobacco for Warning Label Lawsuit
posted August 29, 2011
Groundbreaking advocate David Kessler reflects on 15-Year battle against tobacco
Editor
Aug 5, 2011
David Kessler, the path-breaking former Food and Drug Administration commissioner who began the push for FDA regulation of tobacco during the mid-1990s, reflected recently on progress in the struggle against the tobacco industry, and the critical changes in social attitudes toward smoking that have taken hold in just the past 15 years.
Continue reading From “Social Acceptability” to “A Deadly, Disgusting, Addictive Product”
posted August 05, 2011
Media coverage of graphic labels prompts surge in quitline calls
Editor
Jul 5, 2011
The Food and Drug Administration's new, graphic warning labels for cigarette packs already have started working: Calls to the 1-800-QUIT-NOW number that appears on the warning labels spiked the day the images hit the media, and call volume stayed unusually high for a week.
Continue reading New Cigarette Warnings Working Even Before They’re on Packs
posted July 05, 2011
New, bold warning labels for cigarette packs prod smokers to quit
Editor
Jun 21, 2011
The Food and Drug Administration has unveiled nine bold, graphic health warnings that will be required on cigarette packs and advertisements beginning in September, 2012.
Continue reading Graphic Warning Labels Update
posted June 21, 2011
HHS to announce large, graphic cigarette pack warnings
Editor
Jun 20, 2011
Tomorrow, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services will announce its nine final choices for large, graphic health warning labels for cigarette packs that are required by the new law granting the Food and Drug Administration authority to regulate tobacco products. The new warnings represent the most significant change in U.S. cigarette warnings since they were first required in 1965.
Continue reading Bigger, Bolder and More Effective
posted June 20, 2011
Argument that new FDA law should replace court’s order is “particularly unconvincing”
Editor
Jun 3, 2011
The tobacco industry spends billions marketing its products with determined deception, but it can’t dupe U.S. District Court Judge Gladys Kessler.
Judge Kessler issued the landmark 2006 decision that the tobacco companies have violated civil racketeering laws (RICO) and defrauded the public by lying for decades about the health risks of smoking and their marketing to children.
Continue reading U.S. Judge Slaps Down Tobacco Industry Effort to Evade Sanctions in Racketeering Case
posted June 03, 2011
FDA takes action against online tobacco retailers who continue “light” and “low” ruse
Editor
May 26, 2011
Untamed Internet tobacco vendors have just heard from the sheriff.
The Food and Drug Administration has issued 11 warning letters to online retailers for illegally marketing cigarettes described with terms such as "light" and "low" that deceive smokers by implying they are less risky than other brands. They are not.
Continue reading Cracking down on deception
posted May 26, 2011
Menthol cigarettes attract youth, African-Americans and may make it harder to quit
Editor
Mar 17, 2011
The tobacco industry’s spin machine has gone into overdrive as we near the March 23 deadline for an Food and Drug Administration science advisory committee to issue a report on menthol cigarettes.
It's trying to convince the media — and nervous investors — that the committee will find menthol does not make cigarettes any more harmful, and nothing should be done about it.
Continue reading Panel on Menthol Sees Through Tobacco Industry’s Smoke
posted March 17, 2011
Industry's latest actions put the lie to claims of change
Editor
Feb 28, 2011
The tobacco companies claim they've changed and are now responsible corporate citizens. All the while, they continue to market to kids, deceive the public and fight proven measures to reduce tobacco use.
The proof is in recent headlines:
Continue reading The Big Tobacco Wolf Sheds Its Sheep’s Clothing
posted February 28, 2011
Not the Less Pain for Lorillard Act
Editor
Feb 16, 2011
As the March 23 deadline approaches for a science advisory panel to recommend how the Food and Drug Administration should regulate menthol cigarettes, the biggest menthol maker – Lorillard Inc. – is doing what Big Tobacco usually does: blowing smoke.
Lorillard argues FDA should take no action to restrict menthol cigarettes such as its Newports. A Lorillard executive even claimed that when Congress granted FDA authority to regulate tobacco in 2009, the purpose was to “create order and supervision of the industry.”
No.
Continue reading It’s the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act
posted February 16, 2011
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