Eleven years after a federal court ordered the country’s biggest cigarette producers to produce a series of warning ads informing people about the dangers of their products, Big Tobacco is finally preparing to publish those “corrective statements” in TV ads, newspapers, online, and in cigarette packaging. [More]
big tobacco
Big Tobacco Will Admit In New Ads That All Cigarettes Are Bad For You, Intentionally Addictive
By 10.4.17
Big Tobacco Opening Stores To Teach People How To Vape
By 12.1.16
While millions of people remain hooked on traditional cigarettes, the tobacco industry knows that its future is increasingly becoming smokeless. Just yesterday, the CEO of Philip Morris admitted that his company could someday cease making cigarettes altogether. So it makes sense that some tobacco giants are now opening stores to promote and teach people how to use these new products. [More]
Is It Inevitable That Big Tobacco Will Shift To Big Marijuana?
By 4.20.16
Four states and Washington, D.C., have already legalized recreational marijuana use, while medical marijuana use is currently legal (or about to become legal) in around 20 states — not to mention the many states that have decriminalized the drug. At the same time, tobacco use continues to decline and the few remaining cigarette giants can only merge with each other so many times. So is Big Tobacco destined to become Big Marijuana? [More]
Big Tobacco Loses Legal Challenge To FDA Report On Menthol Cigarettes
By 1.15.16
A federal appeals court has stymied the tobacco industry’s attempt to challenge a Food and Drug Administration advisory panel report on the safety of menthol cigarettes. [More]
FDA Regulation Of E-Cigarettes Would Only Help Big Tobacco, Say Vaping Startups
By 8.10.15
If you go into a convenience store to buy cigarettes, you might have a wide variety of smokes to choose from, but most of those brands are made by three or four huge tobacco companies. But if you’re one of the growing number of consumers who choose vaping over traditional cigarettes, there are seemingly countless small companies willing to sell you liquid nicotine. Some of those startups say that pending FDA regulation of e-cigarettes could put them out of business, leaving only big tobacco. [More]
U.S. Chamber Of Commerce: Lobbying Hard For Big Tobacco Worldwide
By 6.30.15
The term “Chamber of Commerce” plants visions of a quaint, local organization helping hang banners in the town square at Christmas time, or sponsoring youth groups in a Fourth of July parade during warmer seasons. Realistically, however, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce is the nation’s largest business and commerce trade group. And among all their other lobbying work, the Chamber of Commerce has become one of the world’s biggest advocates for Big Tobacco, pushing that industry’s interests globally. [More]
Tobacco Giants To Pay $100 Million To Settle Hundreds Of Lawsuits In Florida
By 2.25.15
After more than two decades of a legal roller-coaster that at one point had the tobacco industry hit with $145 billion in damages, hundreds of federal lawsuits in Florida are close to being settled after three tobacco giants reached a deal to pay a total of $100 million. [More]
Philip Morris Does Horrible Job Of Defending Itself After John Oliver Mocking
By 2.17.15
On Sunday night, John Oliver called out the tobacco industry, and particularly Philip Morris, for the practice of threatening small and poor countries with complicated, expensive international trade lawsuits if they try to strictly regulate cigarette marketing. But while Big Tobacco has the coffers to pay for costly legal battles, it does a really poor job of trying to defend its actions. [More]
Should Stores That Sell Cigarettes Have To Post Apology From Big Tobacco?
By 12.26.12
Last month, the government’s seemingly interminable lawsuit against the tobacco industry appeared to be nearing something resembling an end, as the judge ruled that cigarette makers must publish apologies for their deception in ads and on packaging. What’s still undecided is whether stores must also post the apology. [More]
Feds Ask Appeals Court To Reconsider Requiring Graphic Warnings On Cigarette Packaging
By 10.9.12
Big Tobacco came away with a win in August when a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals agreed with a lower court that cigarette packaging shouldn’t be required to feature graphic health warnings about the dangers of smoking. But the Food and Drug Administration seems to be on a team with the Justice Department, as the latter agency is asking for a full appeals court to reconsider that idea. [More]
FDA Threatens Stores That Sell Tobacco To Kids
By 11.11.11
The Food and Drug Administration is going after businesses suspected of selling cigarettes and smokeless tobacco to minors, sending out letters to 1,200 stores and threatening eventual fines if they fail to comply with the law. The FDA says it has conducted 27,500 inspections to make sure retailers aren’t violating restrictions on such activities as setting up cigarette vending machines, selling cigarettes and failing to check IDs. [More]
Tobacco Companies Put Radioactive Substance Into Cigarettes, Covered It Up
By 9.30.11
Newly analyzed historical documents reveal that tobacco companies have known for decades that cigarettes contain polonium-210, a radioactive material, and covered up its own studies that found their products caused cancerous growths in smokers’ lungs. [More]
Justice Department Wants Big Tobacco To Admit Its Products Are Deadly
By 2.24.11
The Justice Department wants major tobacco companies to admit its products cause 1,200 Americans to die every day, and also that it misled consumers with advertisements that “light” and low-tar” cigarettes were less harmful than regular cigarettes. [More]
Addicted to Cool: Menthol Cigarettes Are Harder to Quit
By 9.26.06
Is the minty freshness of menthol cigarettes more addicting than regular cigarettes?
