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After a two-month break, trial resumes today in a lawsuit in which the state of Vermont charges that R.J. Reynolds claimed a new cigarette was safer for smokers without scientific data to back the claim.
Vermont, which is suing the tobacco company for itself and 35 other states, has taken aim at Reynolds' marketing statements that say its Eclipse cigarettes, which heat rather than burn tobacco, are safer than regular cigarettes.
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The trial on claims by the state of Vermont that R.J. Reynolds Co. misled consumers about the health risks of smoking a new kind of cigarette resumes Monday at Chittenden Superior Court in Burlington after a two-month hiatus.
The state, which is arguing the case on behalf of 36 states, contends that Reynolds has marketed Eclipse, a cigarette that heats rather than burns tobacco, as safer than conventional cigarettes despite having no scientific evidence to back its advertising claims.
Judge Dennis Pearson presided over 20 days of testimony in the case in October and, in a ruling late last month, said he will allow Reynolds five more days to wrap up its defense against the state's claims.
Based on recent court filings, Reynolds lawyers intend to focus part of this week's testimony on an 11-year-old statement by the Attorney General's Office that criticized the company for not doing more to promote Premier, another "safer" cigarette it had developed.
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States are circumventing more than 30 years of tobacco industry opposition to federal safe cigarette legislation by passing their own laws that require the sale of self-extinguishing cigarettes.
The list of states with such laws on the books will expand to 32 in 2009, nearly tripling the number that had such laws at the start of 2007.
After federal legislation -- first proposed in 1974, and last failed in 2006 with opposition from the tobacco industry -- the decision was made to change strategy and promote state requirements, said U.S. Fire Administrator Gregory Cade.
By the end of 2009, 14 states will join the 18 that already require vendors to purchase and sell only the fire-safe cigarettes, which are designed to go out if they are dropped or set aside, said Lorraine Carli, vice president of communications at the National Fire Protection Association and the Coalition for Fire-Safe Cigarettes.
Fire-safe cigarettes will be mandatory in Delaware, Iowa, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania and Texas beginning Jan. 1, she said. Laws go into effect during the year in Arizona, Colorado, Hawaii, Idaho, Indiana, Kansas, Louisiana, Washington and Wisconsin. Six more states are set to enact laws in 2010 and seven others have proposals in the works, Carli said. . . .
Howard said R.J. Reynolds will start making all of its cigarettes fire-safe by the end of 2009.
When Gov. Tim Kaine proposed last week to double the tax on cigarettes, he took on a large contributor to state politicians.
Tobacco companies have over the years given millions of dollars to Virginia candidates--including to Kaine himself.
According to the Virginia Public Access Project, a database of campaign finance donations in Virginia, tobacco companies, executives and farmers have given state politicians nearly $6 million since 1996.
By contrast, anti-tobacco groups seem to donate much less . . .
Think of a big name in state politics--former Gov. Jim Gilmore, former Lt. Gov. John Hager, former Gov. Mark Warner, former state Sen. John Chichester, former House Speaker Vance Wilkins, former GOP gubernatorial candidate Jerry Kilgore, current Democratic Party Chairman Dick Cranwell, House Speaker Bill Howell, Gov. Tim Kaine--they're all on the list of tobacco donations.
Local lawmakers on the list, in addition to Howell and Chichester, include Sens. Edd Houck and Richard Stuart and Dels. Mark Cole, Bobby Orrock and Albert Pollard.
The largest donor by far is Altria, the Richmond-based parent company of Philip Morris, maker of the Marlboro brand of cigarettes.
The international law firm Jones Day announced today that Elizabeth P. "Liza" Kessler, will take over as Partner-in-Charge (PIC) of the Firm's Columbus office effective January 1, 2009. Ms. Kessler becomes the fifth woman PIC to currently lead one of Jones Day's 14 US offices. She succeeds Fordham E. Huffman who has spent 14 years as PIC in Columbus. Mr. Huffman will lead a new practice group focused on insurance liability and coverage litigation. He will continue to serve on the Firm's Advisory Committee.
"Liza is not only an extremely talented lawyer and dedicated advocate for her clients, but also a leader on so many important Firm and civic initiatives," said Stephen J. Brogan, Managing Partner of Jones Day. "Ford has built a formidable presence in Columbus - now nearly 80 lawyers strong - and we have great confidence that Liza will enhance that presence and continue to provide the very highest service levels to our clients."
Ms. Kessler practices primarily in the area of product liability. Her significant litigation experiences include representation of R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company in complex product liability cases around the United States. Her trial representation includes a Sacramento jury trial entitled Lucier v. Philip Morris, et al. (2003), which resulted in a complete defense verdict on all claims after a four-month trial. In the years preceding the Lucier trial, plaintiffs had won six straight jury verdicts in tobacco product liability trials on the West Coast, each with punitive damages ranging from tens of millions to billions of dollars. Ms. Kessler was trial counsel for R.J. Reynolds in Rose v. American Tobacco Co. (2005), the first smoking and health case to be tried in Manhattan. After a six-week trial, the jury returned a verdict in favor of R.J. Reynolds.
The release this January of the first dissolvable tobacco product by a major company has some public health officials concerned.
"This is a wake-up call for the public health community," says Gregory Connolly of Harvard School of Public Health. "It's a total sea change."
For smokers who can't light up in the office or at a restaurant, a new aspirin-sized tablet, called "Camel Orb," will let tobacco melt in their mouth. The dissolvable product -- arriving January in stores in Portland, Ore., Columbus, Ohio, and Indianapolis -- is the first such product by a major tobacco company and is part of a booming market in smokeless alternatives to cigarettes as smoke-free laws sweep the nation.
"It's meeting the needs of smokers," says Rob Dunham, of R.J. Reynolds, maker of Orb and Camel cigarettes. With lozenge-like Orb, he says there's no smoke, no spit, no litter. . . .
"These products are designed to enhance social acceptability of tobacco," says Connolly. "They've left the realm of traditional tobacco products" and are more akin to food. He says they may pose fewer health risks than cigarettes because they are smokeless, but he says they're dangerous because they keep people addicted. Also, he says, they're attractive to kids, because they're easy to hide.
According to the Southeast Farm Press, organic tobacco is “the biggest growth area in US tobacco production.” The stuff fetches about twice the price as regular tobacco on the open market. “Any tobacco without pesticide residues is more attractive than conventional in the current market,” said organic tobacco producer Micou Browne.
Browne's company, Organic Smoke Inc., bought twice as much leaf in the past year. But that won’t be even half as much as what the Santa Fe Natural Tobacco Co., makers of the additive-free Natural American Spirit brand cigarettes, grew. Already the largest organic tobacco product manufacturer, Santa Fe continues to see its sales grow by more than 10 percent each year. . . .
The mass consumption of cigarettes, which is increasing globally by slightly more than one percent a year, can only be met through the exhaustion of natural resources, environments, and labor. Big companies like Reynolds American, which owns RJR and is itself 42 percent owned by British American Tobacco and manufactures about one of every three cigarettes sold in the US, tend to buy cheap leaf from developing countries where farm practices are lax and tobacco-control efforts are more easily suppressed.
In fact, by 2010 a projected 87 percent of tobacco will be grown in developing countries like South Korea, where more than 40 percent of annual deforestation is due to the production and curing of tobacco; Brazil, where pesticide sprayings have polluted fresh water; and Malawi, which has the highest incidence of child labor in Southern Africa (tobacco farms in Malawi that have a contract with multinationals, about 20 percent of the total, have a ban on child labor). . . .
In a paper McDaniel had published last year on smokers’ perceptions of “natural” cigarettes, she concluded that “tobacco companies may be inclined to introduce natural brands as part of their burgeoning corporate social responsibility efforts” and that “such efforts may involve expanding the current concept of natural cigarettes, with their emphasis on no additives, into 'green' cigarettes—organic (pesticide-free), completely biodegradable, or manufactured using renewable energy.” Indeed, market research shows that informing smokers of the chemical contents of most cigarettes results in shock and alarm, and also suggests that, for many smokers, this alarm can be allayed by a “natural” cigarette. In Germany, ads for “organic” cigarettes have been banned because regulators there decided they mislead consumers into thinking they're a healthier product.
Like a subliminal message, the soothing words of the environmental movement have become powerful enough to override the proven negative health effects of cigarettes and the government-mandated warning label. There's some sense of trust and reassurement hearing a company say, as Santa Fe does on its website, “Supporting sustainable agriculture is part of our commitment to reducing our footprint on the Earth, and protecting our natural resources.” But McDaniel points to a “need to expand our definition of sustainable. It’s all well and good to grow something organically and use renewable energy sources, but if it kills half the people who use it then it’s not very sustainable.”
Reynolds American Inc. (NYSE: RAI) today announced the appointment of new chief executive officers for the company's Conwood Company, LLC and Santa Fe Natural Tobacco Company, Inc. subsidiaries. The current chief executives of those two subsidiaries plan to retire in 2009.
Bryan K. Stockdale, 50, has been named president and CEO of Conwood, the nation's second-largest smokeless tobacco manufacturer, effective Feb. 1, 2009. Stockdale will succeed William M. Rosson, 60, who plans to retire after 34 years of service at Conwood. Stockdale is currently senior vice president of marketing operations for R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company, Reynolds American's largest subsidiary, and has worked for that company for 30 years. Rosson will remain with Conwood in an advisory role for a period of time after Stockdale joins the company to ensure a smooth transition.
Nicholas A. Bumbacco, 44, has been named president and CEO of Santa Fe Natural Tobacco Co., effective March 1, 2009.
Courtroom View Network, a division of Courtroom Connect, the leading provider of advanced communication services to the legal industry, today announces the availability of Hess vs. RJ Reynolds Tobacco Co. online. Hess vs. RJ Reynolds is the first of the "Engle progeny" tobacco liability suits to go to trial. It will be heard in the court of Hon. Jeffrey Streitfeld in Broward County, Florida. Opening Statements began on Tuesday, December 2, 2008.
Reynolds American Inc., maker of Camel cigarettes, replaced one of its 13 board members on Thursday because of a change in management at British American Tobacco PLC.
Through its indirect subsidiary Brown & Williamson Holdings Inc., British American Tobacco is Reynolds' biggest shareholder. It holds a 42 percent stake.
BAT Chief Operating Officer Nicandro Durante will represent Brown & Williamson on the Reynolds board. He replaced Antonio Monteiro de Castro, the former COO. Brown & Williamson representatives hold five of the 13 board seats.
An Ohio-based farmworkers union put R.J. Reynolds, North Carolina's tobacco giant, in its sights more than a year ago.
Now, as the campaign heads into its second year, union officials say they are more determined than ever to push the Winston-Salem cigarette maker into a deal that could unionize as many as 30,000 tobacco fieldworkers.
Earlier this month, union supporters hand-delivered hundreds of postcards signed by union supporters to members of the company's board of directors. They say it is the beginning of a push that will target board members and other companies that do business with Reynolds.
If those measures fail, they say, they will move on to a national boycott of the company's products, which include Winston, Camel and Salem cigarettes.
"If anybody in the country needs a union, it's these workers," said Baldemar Velasquez, president of the Farm Labor Organizing Committee, known as FLOC. . . .
Velasquez says tobacco workers are more vulnerable than other farmworkers, because the nicotine in the tobacco leaves can sicken and dehydrate them. Many also are in the country illegally
"The industry is brilliant, and whatever they want to outspend us by -- $1 million, $10 million, $100 million -- they can do it."
-- Bruce Adkins of the West Virginia Division of Tobacco Prevention, worrying about the impact of Snus, the tobacco industry's newest cigarette substitute.
Chewing tobacco regularly increases the risk of developing oral cancers; recent studies have associated heavy use with increased odds of pancreatic cancer, as well. The European Union banned sales of an earlier formulation of Snus in 1992 after a World Health Organization study determined the product could cause cancer. Snus is still sold in Sweden, where it originated, and in Norway.
Health officials in West Virginia analyzed a version of Snus marketed earlier this year in parts of the United States and found it contained five milligrams of nicotine per gram of tobacco, or about two milligrams per pouch serving, said Robert Anderson, deputy director of the prevention research center at West Virginia University.
Since then, he said, the amount of tobacco and the concentration of nicotine in each pouch appear to have increased. "The nicotine in these products doesn't happen by accident," Mr. Anderson said.
The latest packaging does contain more tobacco, 0.6 grams per pouch instead of 0.4 grams, and therefore more nicotine, according to R.J. Reynolds spokesman David Howard.
The disclosure dismayed some public health officials.
"It's so high in nicotine that the probability of becoming addicted to it with utilization of just one tin is going to be very high," said Bruce W. Adkins
Pricing is PER TRIAL DAY for individual user access. This package is a standing order for live and on demand access to all event days produced for the Hess vs. RJ Reynolds Tobacco Co. - Trial. On Demand will be available 30 days from the last day of the event. All days recorded before your order was placed will be billed at $400/day for On Demand viewing. You will be billed as the event proceeds for all days produced. Should the matter settle on or before the first day of trial, you will be charged a 400.00 settlement fee. . . .
Price: $400.00