December 1st, 2011
By the CNN Wire Staff
(CNN) — The Obama administration appealed Tuesday a federal judge’s decision to block a law that would have made tobacco companies include graphic pictures and messages showing the dangers of smoking on cigarette packages.
U.S. District Judge Richard J. Leon made a decision on the law in early November. He cited First Amendment rights against unconstitutionally compelled speech as a factor in his 29-page decision.
“This case poses a constitutional challenge to a bold new tact (sic) by the Congress, and the FDA, in their obvious and continuing efforts to minimize, if not eradicate, tobacco use in the United States,” Leon concluded at the time.
November 24th, 2011
Not that anyone seems to have noticed, but the cigarette manufacturers scored a major victory this week. And I’m taking their side.
Say what?
This stance isn’t easy for me. I’ve covered Big Tobacco in the past, and the damage it wreaks is undeniable. Cigarettes, after all, are the only consumer product that kills its customers when used as directed. The annual American death toll is roughly 440,000, and the annual tobacco-related health care tab is roughly $100 billion. And the death merchants are a tad short on credibility as well; back in the mid-’90s, five tobacco CEOs swore under oath on Capitol Hill that nicotine was not addictive – only to return to Capitol Hill four years later and confess that it was.
November 21st, 2011
Tobacco E-News | November 8, 2011
Fourteen NATO retail members submitted comments electronically via the federal government’s www.regulations.gov Web site, in response to the FDA’s proposed Tobacco Products Violation Reporting Form.
The FDA is proposing to allow the public and other stakeholder organizations (including anti-tobacco groups) to report possible retail violations of the FDA’s tobacco regulations by using a new Violation Reporting Form. The FDA is planning to allow the reports to be filed over the telephone, over the Internet, through a smart phone application or by mail.
November 15th, 2011
Undercover Inspectors Find Clerks Selling Cigarettes, Smokeless Tobacco To People Under Age 18
Alan Gathright, 7NEWS Content Producer
DENVER — Federal officials warned 37 Colorado stores in October that undercover inspectors caught clerks selling cigarettes or smokeless tobacco to minors.
The violations were cited in enforcement warning letters sent to store operators by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. The letters warned merchants to immediately correct the violations or face a “no-tobacco-sale order,” product seizure and/or civil fines.
Store operators were given 15 working days to send a written response describing their intent to comply with the order and explain their plan to end violations.
November 9th, 2011
Write to Anthony Komaroff via www.AskDoctorK.com.
Q After smoking for more than 15 years, I finally quit eight months ago. I recently heard about electronic cigarettes, which vaporize nicotine and don’t create actual smoke. Are they a safer alternative to cigarettes?
A Nobody knows if electronic cigarettes are safe. That’s because e-cigarette makers have not submitted their products for FDA approval, which would require proof of safety and efficacy. Still, preliminary studies from New Zealand, Greece and the FDA itself raise concerns.
