March 11th, 2011
Updated Thu Mar 10, 2011
Customs and border protection staff in Brisbane have seized more than 2.5 million illegally imported cigarettes.
They were found in a shipping container from Hong Kong earmarked to contain bubble wrap and lunch boxes.
Under the Customs Act the penalty for smuggling and evading duty is five times the amount of tax evaded and a possible 10-year jail sentence.
Home Affairs Minister Brendan O’Connor says the seizure of that many counterfeit cigarettes represents an attempt to evade government revenue of almost $1.2 million.
March 9th, 2011
From: The Daily Caller
By Horace Cooper 10:45 AM 03/09/2011
Last year, not long after the Food and Drug Administration got legislative authority to regulate tobacco, “flavored” cigarettes were banned — on behalf of the children.
This was largely a publicity stunt since Twista Lime, Kauai Kolada and other flavored cigarettes made up less than one percent of the cigarette market and manufacturers had largely scaled back their production of flavored cigarettes by the time the FDA announced the ban.
Now the FDA is embarking on something more ambitious: Going after menthol cigarettes.
March 6th, 2011
The agency has one more legal option — the U.S. Supreme Court — to prove why the popular products should face the same tests as medical devices.
By Alicia Gallegos, amednews staff.
The Food and Drug Administration has lost another battle in its fight to regulate what goes into so-called electronic cigarettes.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit on Jan. 24 said it would not review a decision blocking the products from FDA regulation as medical devices. An FDA spokesman said the agency is considering its legal and regulatory options. The FDA still could try to take the case to the U.S. Supreme Court.
March 1st, 2011
A post by the e-cigarette community at
http://www.e-cigarette-forum.com/forum/e-cigarette-news/166128-health-effects-counterfeit-cigarettes.html
suggests it may be a great source of analytical and newsworthy information on counterfeit cigarettes. Here is CRE’ s invitation to them:
To Members of the ECF:
We were particularly impressed with this post made by Thalium:
http://www.e-cigarette-forum.com/forum/e-cigarette-news/166128-health-effects-counterfeit-cigarettes.html
We have an Interactive Public Docket dedicated to counterfeit cigarettes, see
http://www.thecre.com/cc/
The IPD is in Beta, meaning it will go live shortly. The home page is restricted to posts made by CRE. However you will note three Discussion Forums on the right hand side of the page accepts posts from the public. When they are up and running we would appreciate your views.
March 1st, 2011
By Roger Nachman
Benzinga Staff Writer
March 01, 2011 7:43 AM
Read more: http://www.benzinga.com/analyst-ratings/analyst-color/11/03/893323/j-p-morgan-overweight-on-altria-mo#ixzz1FM7ZCvPO
J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. has an Overweight rating and a $23 price target on shares of Altria (NYSE: MO).
In a note to clients, J.P. Morgan writes, “The FDA-led investigation into menthol in US cigarettes continues, with the full report due by 23 March 2011. Two further draft chapters of the report were released last night. It remains our view that menthol will not be banned from US cigarettes (see Global Tobacco: The End is Nigh for more details) but we continue to believe that there remains headline risk around the (non-binding) report to the FDA to be published by TPSAC.”
