It’s been more than seven years since the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act became law, directing the Food and Drug Administration to bolster warnings on tobacco labels and to create graphic warning images to be printed on cigarette packaging. Even though the U.S. Supreme Court rejected the tobacco industry’s challenge to these labels in 2013, they have yet to materialize. In an attempt to force the FDA’s hand, a coalition of doctors, public health advocates, and anti-smoking groups have filed a lawsuit against the government. [More]
up in smoke
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]
Will The FDA Ever Get Around To New Warning Labels For Cigarettes?
By 2.18.15
In June 2009, the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act became law, directing the Food and Drug Administration to not only create larger health warnings, but to include graphic images in the labels. And when the U.S. Supreme Court shot down a tobacco-industry fight against these labels in April 2013, it was supposed to get the ball rolling again on these new warnings. But in the years since, there’s been no apparent movement on the matter and the FDA won’t say when, or even if, these Congressionally mandated labels will become a reality. [More]
Massachusetts Town Decides Against Banning Tobacco Sales After Outcry
By 11.20.14
After floating the idea of possibly banning all tobacco sales within city limits, a Massachusetts town’s Board of Health has decided to give up the proposal after some residents protested the effort, saying they should be able to buy cigarettes and other products in their own town. [More]
50 Years After First Surgeon General’s Report, Smoking Still Leading Preventable Cause Of Death
By 1.17.14
Back in 1964, 42% of American adults smoked tobacco. That same year, the U.S. Surgeon General’s office issued a landmark report about the link between smoking and lung cancer. Since then, there have been 31 additional reports from various Surgeons General, each adding more insight into the health hazards of smoking. In that time, the percentage of adult smokers has been cut by more than half to 18%, but the latest report says people aren’t quitting fast enough. [More]
Walmart To Pay Out $25 Million Over Exploding Gas Cans
By 12.9.13
Even though Walmart does not manufacture plastic gasoline cans, it does sell more of the cans than any other retailer in the country and it has been named as a defendant in dozens of lawsuits regarding exploding cans. And so the retail giant has reportedly agreed to fork over $25 million to cover its portion of a $161 million settlement that would close the book on a number of unresolved claims. [More]
Los Angeles Might Treat Sale Of E-Cigarettes Like Regular Smokes
By 12.5.13
It’s not just has-been actors like Stephen Dorff and Jenny McCarthy who smoke electronic cigarettes. They have become increasingly popular not just with smokers trying to quit but with people who want the fun of smoking without the whole “ashtray lung” after effect. Additionally, e-cigs don’t come with most of the pesky sales limitations of their tobacco counterparts, making them easier to buy and sell for some folks. But if the Los Angeles City Council gets its way, electronic cigarettes will soon be treated exactly the same as the unplugged versions. [More]
Supreme Court Agrees: Cigarette Warning Labels Don’t Violate Big Tobacco’s Free Speech
By 4.22.13
For the last several years, the tobacco industry has been fighting a federal law that requires, among other restrictions, cigarette manufacturers to place graphic warning labels on packaging. Big Tobacco may need to finally get with the program, now that the U.S. Supreme Court has rejected the companies’ challenge to the law on the grounds that it violates their First Amendment rights. [More]
Would $81 For A Pack Of Cigarettes Put An End To Smoking?
By 4.24.12
While lawmakers here in the U.S. have developed a habit in recent years of raising taxes on cigarettes as a way to curb smoking while increasing tax revenue from those who continue to inhale, officials in New Zealand are giving some thought to what they would need to charge in order to make people quit smoking once and for all. [More]
Tobacco Companies Required To Report Levels Of Dozens Of Chemicals
By 3.30.12
The Food & Drug Administration says there are more than 7,000 chemicals in tobacco and tobacco smoke. And now the FDA says consumers have a right to know about the levels of 93 harmful or potentially harmful chemicals that are in the products they smoke and/or chew. [More]
Cheech & Chong Still Encouraging Baby Boomers To Get High… On Fiber
By 9.26.11
Once upon a time, the comedy duo of Cheech Marin and Tommy Chong (some refer to them as Cheech and Chong) were as closely associated with marijuana as rolling papers and bongs. But oh how times have changed and priorities have shifted from getting high on pot brownies to getting high amounts of fiber from brownies. [More]
Tobacco Companies Sue FDA Over New Warning Labels
By 8.17.11
In an effort to get the Food and Drug Administration to shut down its plans to slap graphic new warning labels on tobacco products, four large tobacco firms have sued the government. Big tobacco contends the labels will cost too much to print and will infringe on their rights to free speech. [More]
FDA Unveils New Tobacco Warning Labels For Teens To Laugh At While They Smoke
By 6.21.11
Last fall, the Food & Drug Administration announced they would be requiring tobacco packaging to carry larger and more graphic warning labels. And because our governmental agencies move like quicksilver, it only took about seven months for the FDA to finalize the nine images that will soon decorate your pack of Kools. [More]
