January 21st, 2011
21/01/2011 UK
The ringleader of a criminal gang that smuggled over 64 million fake cigarettes into the UK, evading £10m in duty, was jailed for seven years at Southwark Crown Court.
Peter Vyse, a Market Trader from Waltham Cross in Hertfordshire, was jailed along with nine other gang members for a total of over 30 years.
As the main organiser for the gang Vyse travelled extensively to Greece and Romania, organising shipments of counterfeit cigarettes, many of them made in Moldova and Ukraine. Vyse met with fake cigarette manufacturers and suppliers including the Italian Mafia, who supplied many of the cigarettes the gang smuggled into the UK.
January 20th, 2011
Jan. 5, 2011 – Makers of tobacco products that have been changed since Feb. 15, 2007, must show the “new” products are no worse for public health or see the products banned in the U.S., the FDA today ruled.
The rule applies to cigarettes, smokeless tobacco products, and roll-your-own tobacco products. It does not apply to electronic cigarettes (e-cigarettes). Tobacco companies have until March 22, 2011, to submit evidence to the FDA that new or changed products are “substantially equivalent” to those made before February 2007.
January 15th, 2011
By Jennifer Corbett Dooren, Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES
WASHINGTON -(Dow Jones)- Major tobacco makers urged a federal advisory panel against banning menthol cigarettes, arguing such a ban would likely create an unregulated black market.
The Food and Drug Administration was given the authority to regulate tobacco products in 2009. As part of the tobacco law, all tobacco flavorings except for menthol were banned on concerns the flavors enticed children and adolescents to start smoking.
January 13th, 2011
by Karlene Lukovitz,
The Association of National Advertisers and the American Advertising Federation have filed in opposition to a series of graphic warnings proposed by the Food and Drug Administration that would appear on cigarette and other tobacco product packaging and in ads for these products.
ANA/AAF maintain that the graphic warnings proposed under the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act of 2009 are “excessive” and violate the First Amendment.
January 11th, 2011
RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — The Food and Drug Administration says it must review tobacco products that were introduced or changed over the last four years in order for companies to keep selling them.
The agency on Wednesday issued guidance to the tobacco industry outlining how to apply for review.
Tobacco makers have until March 22 to prove that the cigarettes or other tobacco products are “substantially equivalent” to ones commercially available before Feb. 15, 2007. That means the ingredients and design are similar and do not raise different public health concerns.
