Tobacco Companies

NEW YORK - Tobacco companies have won a legal round over smokers who contend they were misled about the health effects of light cigarettes. The US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, in Manhattan, overturned class-action status yesterday in a lawsuit seeking at least $200 billion on behalf of tens of millions of smokers. The damages theoretically could go as high as $800 billion. If that were the case, it could become the largest class action in American history and more than has been spent on the Iraq war, said Theodore M. Grossman, a lawyer for the tobacco companies.

RICHMOND, Va. - States have spent only about 3 percent of the billions they have received in tobacco taxes and legal settlements over the last decade to fund tobacco prevention programs, making it harder to reduce the death and disease caused by tobacco use, according to a report released Thursday by the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Between 1998 and 2010, states have collected nearly $244 billion in cigarette taxes and settlement money, compared with only $8.1 billion earmarked for state tobacco control efforts.

Cigarette maker Lorillard Inc.'s net income fell nearly 3 percent in the third quarter as higher costs offset selling more cigarettes at higher prices. Earnings and revenue both fell short of expectations. Lorillard's stock fell nearly 5 percent in morning trading Monday. The nation's third-biggest tobacco company and maker of Newport cigarettes said Monday it earned $267 million, or $1.94 per share, for the period ended Sept. 30, down from $274 million, or $1.81 per share, a year ago. The per-share figure was boosted by a lower number of shares outstanding.

States have spent only about 3 percent of the billions they've received in tobacco taxes and legal settlements over the last decade to fund tobacco prevention programs, making it harder to reduce the death and disease caused by tobacco use, according to a report released Thursday by the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Between 1998 and 2010, states have collected nearly $244 billion in cigarette taxes and settlement money, compared with only $8.1 billion earmarked for state tobacco control efforts.

A Superior Court judge ruled yesterday that the man who won a $152 million lawsuit last year against a tobacco company for causing the death of his mother - by giving her free cigarettes when she was just a child - can collect the money with interest retroactive to 2004, the year the case was filed. The state allows for interest to be collected at 12 percent a year, meaning the $152 million judgment could essentially double. Superior Court Judge Elizabeth M. Fahey made the decision on the same day she found that Lorillard Tobacco Co. violated state consumer protection laws by targeting young...

Several tobacco companies and others have filed a federal lawsuit against the city of Providence challenging new city regulations that tighten rules for selling tobacco. The suit filed in U.S. District Court in Providence targets ordinances banning pricing strategies, such as "buy one, get one free," and sales of non-cigarette tobacco products marketed as having a fruit or candy flavor. The city says the U.S. Food and Drug Administration banned flavored cigarettes in 2009. Mayor Angel Taveras (tuh-VEHR'-us)

ALLOWING GOVERNMENT to compel the tobacco industry, or anyone else, to advocate a political or ideological message is indeed repugnant to our Constitution. However, the Food and Drug Administration's proposed graphic health warnings required for cigarettes do no such thing. Instead, they would have required tobacco companies to truthfully warn consumers about the dangers of using cigarettes. There is nothing unusual, and certainly nothing unconstitutional, about that. The US Surgeon General, the Institute of Medicine, the World Health Organization, and others have demonstrated that the current...

RICHMOND - A federal judge in Kentucky says the Food and Drug Administration must let tobacco companies use color and graphics in their advertising. US District Judge Joseph McKinley ruled late Monday that some marketing restrictions in a law that gives the FDA authority over tobacco products violate tobacco companies’ free speech rights. R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co., maker of Camel cigarettes; Lorillard, which sells Newport menthols; and other companies sued in August to block the restrictions, part of a law passed in June.

Australia has postponed by five months a planned prohibition on tobacco companies displaying their distinctive colors, brand designs and logos on cigarette packs. Health Minister Nicola Roxon said Wednesday that her government now intends to introduce so-called plain packaging laws starting December next year because the Senate has yet to pass the necessary bills. While all parties have promised support for the legislation, Roxon blamed "a lack of enthusiasm" by the main conservative opposition party for unexpected delays.

FREE SPEECH has been in the news lately. In the wake of Rush Limbaugh calling a Georgetown law student a "slut," the ubiquity of vile commentary has caught public attention. CNN contributor Roland Martin tweeting an anti-gay comment and liberal talk show host Bill Maher calling Sarah Palin a "dumb [expletive]" are just two more examples of a coarsening of political discourse that treats the ad hominem as argument and polarizes rather than illuminates. Still, as offensive as it all may be, few would argue that there's a role for legislation here.

Farah Stockman is usually a reliable observer of Third World cultural habits and practices, and this time she finds it important to object to the efforts of American tobacco companies to sell their products overseas ("Up in smoke: Around world, Philip Morris fights back with intimidation by litigation," Op-ed, April 24). Although there may be good reasons for doing this, my own experience from travels in developing countries in Asia and Latin America, extending over many years, is that large numbers of Third World people require no help at all from American tobacco companies in overusing...

Tobacco companies accused the Australian government of destroying the worth of their trademarks by forcing them to strip logos off cigarette packs as a court battle over the world's toughest laws on cigarette promotion drew to a close Thursday. There was no immediate ruling following the three-day hearing in Australia's High Court over the constitutionality of the country's strict plain-packaging laws, which ban tobacco companies from displaying their distinctive colors, brand designs and logos on cigarette packs in a bid to make smoking less attractive.

Q. Every day, nearly 4,000 kids under the age of 18 try their first cigarette, and another 1,000 become regular smokers. To hook kids, tobacco companies spend billions of dollars each year targeting kids like me with advertising near schools and malls. We need a change, and it needs to be both youth led and adult supported. I am thankful to be working with the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids as a young advocate to fight to reduce tobacco use and its devastating consequences on youth.

Worcester officials said Monday that they have not decided whether to continuing fighting three of the nation's biggest tobacco companies, after a federal judge ruled that a city ordinance dramatically limiting advertising for tobacco products is unconstitutional. Under the regulation - which was approved last May, but not yet enforced - stores would be prohibited from advertising specific cigarette brands on signs visible from the street. Signs could only note that the stores sold cigarettes.

WASHINGTON - Tobacco companies will be required to report the levels of dangerous chemicals found in cigarettes, chew, and other products under the latest rules designed to tighten regulation of the tobacco industry. The preliminary guidance issued Friday by the Food and Drug Administration marks the first time tobacco makers will be required to report quantities of 20 chemicals associated with cancer, lung disease, and other health problems. The FDA will require companies to display the information in a consumer-friendly format by next April.

A federal appeals court ruled on Monday that the government's planned graphic warnings on cigarette packages was legal and didn't violate the free speech rights of tobacco companies. That backed a previous ruling by a lower court in Kentucky but was in opposition to the ruling of a federal district court in Washington, DC, which concluded last month that the labels were unconstitutional. (The government is appealing that ruling.) Most likely the US Supreme Court will ultimately decide whether cigarette makers will be required to place the large gory labels depicting corpses,...

A federal appeals court ruled on Monday that the government's planned graphic warnings on cigarette packages was legal and didn't violate the free speech rights of tobacco companies. That backed a previous ruling by a lower court in Kentucky but was in opposition to the ruling of a federal district court in Washington, DC, which concluded last month that the labels were unconstitutional. (The government is appealing that ruling.) Most likely the US Supreme Court will ultimately decide whether cigarette makers will be required to place the large gory labels depicting corpses,...

The nation’s three biggest tobacco companies are taking aim at part of a new Worcester antismoking ordinance that would dramatically limit advertising of tobacco products. The citywide ban would prohibit any signs visible from the street that entice buyers to purchase specific cigarette brands like Marlboro or Camel, or tobacco products. Retailers would be allowed to advertise only that they sell cigarettes in general. Philip Morris USA Inc., R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co., and Lorillard Tobacco Co., along with the trade group National Association of Tobacco Outlets Inc., last week...

ALLOWING GOVERNMENT to compel the tobacco industry, or anyone else, to advocate a political or ideological message is indeed repugnant to our Constitution. However, the Food and Drug Administration's proposed graphic health warnings required for cigarettes do no such thing. Instead, they would have required tobacco companies to truthfully warn consumers about the dangers of using cigarettes. There is nothing unusual, and certainly nothing unconstitutional, about that. The US Surgeon General, the Institute of Medicine, the World Health Organization, and others have demonstrated that the current...

FREE SPEECH has been in the news lately. In the wake of Rush Limbaugh calling a Georgetown law student a "slut," the ubiquity of vile commentary has caught public attention. CNN contributor Roland Martin tweeting an anti-gay comment and liberal talk show host Bill Maher calling Sarah Palin a "dumb [expletive]" are just two more examples of a coarsening of political discourse that treats the ad hominem as argument and polarizes rather than illuminates. Still, as offensive as it all may be, few would argue that there's a role for legislation here.