Big Tobacco

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Health Groups on Philip Morris Move: 'Reprehensible'

Big Tobacco giant has scooped up UK pharma company Vectura, which makes asthma inhalers

(Newser) - If it seems odd to you that a Big Tobacco giant would be getting into the asthma inhaler business, you're not the only one. NPR notes that "health groups are suspicious" after it was announced Thursday that Philip Morris International has become the majority stakeholder of Vectura, a...

Feds Consider Mandating Nonaddictive Cigarettes

Or, possibly, minimally addictive

(Newser) - Nonaddictive cigarettes could soon be a thing—a mandatory thing. The Biden administration is considering mandating that cigarettes contain nonaddictive or minimally addictive levels of nicotine, sources tell the Wall Street Journal . The move comes as the Food and Drug Administration is deciding on whether to ban menthol cigarettes; it...

FDA Unveils Graphic Cigarette Warning Labels

Tobacco companies blocked them once and are expected to try again

(Newser) - If the Food and Drug Administration gets its way, cigarette labels in the US are about to get pretty graphic. The agency has unveiled 13 proposed warning labels that would be prominently featured on cigarette packs and in cigarette advertising if approved, reports CNBC . The labels go beyond warning of...

Juul Employees Getting a $1.3M Bonus. Each

But is the e-cig giant just trying to soothe critics?

(Newser) - Juul is giving each worker a hefty gift—said to be $1.3 million on average—amid a wave of criticism over its latest investment deal, Inc.com reports. The e-cigarette maker just received a one-time $2 billion dividend payment, insiders say, and is dividing it among 1,500 employees...

Tobacco Industry Forced to Run Anti-Smoking Ads

They managed to delay campaign for 11 years

(Newser) - Decades after they were banned from the airwaves, Big Tobacco companies return to prime-time television next weekend—but not by choice. Under court order, the tobacco industry for the first time will be forced to advertise the deadly, addictive effects of smoking, more than 11 years after a judge ruled...

3 Surprising Stats That Show How Big Tobacco Is Booming

Despite fewer smokers, cigarette companies have managed to rake in cash

(Newser) - The number of cigarettes sold in the US has declined 37% since 2001. Tobacco regulations are stricter than ever, and Big Tobacco has lost high-profile lawsuits costing millions. Yet the tobacco industry has reported a 32% increase in revenue, totaling $93.4 billion in 2016. According to reporting from the...

RJ Reynolds Hit for $23.6B in Smoking Lawsuit

Lawyer: Jury message is 'tobacco cannot continue to lie to the American people'

(Newser) - RJ Reynolds is about $23.6 billion poorer after a Florida jury awarded a widow a whopping $23.6 billion in damages over her husband's death from lung cancer. As the Pensacola News Journal notes, it's one of the largest verdicts ever against a tobacco company, and a...

$27B Tobacco Merger Creates Cigarette 'Duopoly'

Reynolds, Lorillard to merge

(Newser) - Reynolds American, the maker of Camel and Pall Mall cigarettes, has agreed to buy Lorillard, the maker of Newport menthols, in a deal that will make it a strong second to Marlboro manufacturer Altria in the US tobacco market, the Wall Street Journal reports. Reynolds will pay a combination of...

How Big Tobacco Shaped the 'Science Of Stress'

Cigarette companies wanted illness linked to stress, not smoking: expert

(Newser) - A few 20th-century scientists gave birth to the modern notion of stress—and Big Tobacco got so excited that it swooped in and funded their research, NPR reports. It all started with endocrinologist Hens Selye, who in the 1930s subjected rats to stress and cut them open to reveal the...

UN: Cancer Cases to Jump 50% by 2030

Officials slam tobacco companies

(Newser) - Disturbing news on World Cancer Day: Cases are poised to surge in the coming years, jumping 50% by 2030, according to a UN report. That means 21.6 million cases per year, compared to a rate that was 14 million in 2012, AFP reports. By 2035, we're likely to...

15 Years on, Cash From Tobacco Suit Is Elusive

Little has been spent on anti-smoking efforts

(Newser) - Some 15 years after tobacco companies agreed to cough up billions of dollars in fines to settle health-care lawsuits nationwide, the details on how state governments have used the cash are pretty hazy, NPR finds. More than $100 billion has been paid out so far, with more than $100 billion...

Why Big Tobacco Is Getting Hooked on E-Cigs

No big state taxes means no black market

(Newser) - The American e-cigarette business is booming: It's expected to make more than $1 billion this year, and sales are projected to overtake those of real cigarettes by 2047. Big tobacco is probably fine with this, reports BusinessWeek , and the reason why is surprising. According to a recent report, an...

FDA Abandons Gruesome Cigarette Warnings

Feds won't challenge free speech ruling

(Newser) - Big Tobacco can breathe easier: The Food and Drug Administration has scrapped a series of graphic warning labels for cigarettes after deciding not to challenge a court ruling that said the shocking images violated free-speech protections, the Wall Street Journal reports. The labels included images such as diseased lungs and...

Big Tobacco, Anti-Smoking Groups Target ObamaCare

They don't want smokers charged more for insurance

(Newser) - Big Tobacco and anti-cancer activists are lining up against a provision in ObamaCare that would let insurers charge smokers more, the Washington Post reports. It's no small spike, either: One study found that a low-income smoker could see premiums leap from $708 to $3,308. "Our concern is...

Judge Orders Tobacco Firms to Admit They Lied

Companies will have to pay for ads to that effect

(Newser) - A federal judge today ordered tobacco companies to publish corrective statements that say they lied about the dangers of smoking. US District Judge Gladys Kessler previously had said she wanted the industry to pay for the statements in various types of advertisements, the result of a case brought in 1999....

Marlboro Maker Targets China's Vaccine Market

Philip Morris trying to move beyond cigarettes

(Newser) - Marlboro maker Philip Morris only has a tiny sliver of China's gargantuan cigarette market, but it is determined to do business in the country, even if that means moving beyond traditional cigarettes, the Wall Street Journal reports. China's state-owned tobacco firm has a virtual monopoly on cigarettes sales,...

Big Tobacco Fights Russian Crackdown

Kremlin pushes for strict anti-smoking laws

(Newser) - With cigarettes only costing a dollar a pack and next to no restrictions on smoking in place, Russia is a smoker's paradise compared to most Western nations—and that's just how tobacco giants want it to stay. The government of Russia, the world's second-largest tobacco market after...

Tobacco Defender in Congress Now Paid Lobbyist
Tobacco
Defender in
Congress Now
Paid Lobbyist
propublica
Oct 2, 2012 4:55 PM CDT

Tobacco Defender in Congress Now Paid Lobbyist

Steve Buyer once compared it to lettuce

(Newser) - It takes a man of strong conviction to stand up in Congress and compare tobacco to lettuce—he was talking about the smokeless variety, but still. Well, Steve Buyer is no longer a congressman, and, hey, what do you know, he just landed a job as consultant and lobbyist for...

Anti-Tobacco Lawyers Target 'Phony' Food Labels

Heinz, PepsiCo among food producers facing legal action

(Newser) - Lawyers who once drained tobacco companies of hundreds of millions of dollars have found a new target: food companies. Their latest lawsuits accuse major industry players like Heinz and PepsiCo of deceiving consumers with misleading labels or badly listed ingredients, the New York Times reports. Listing "evaporated cane juice"...

Aussie Cigarette Packaging to Turn Generic, Gross
Aussie Cigarette Packaging
to Turn Generic, Gross
court ruling
Aug 15, 2012 5:55 AM CDT

Aussie Cigarette Packaging to Turn Generic, Gross

Ruling a major defeat for tobacco firms

(Newser) - Australia's first-of-its-kind generic cigarette packaging law has been upheld by the country's highest court in a huge defeat for tobacco companies. Today's decision means that starting Dec. 1, cigarettes will all come in olive green packages dominated by graphic health warnings with images like blinded eyeballs and...

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