No action the Food and Drug Administration and the Obama administration could take would do more to save lives, reduce health-care costs and curb the tobacco industry’s exploitation of children and minority teens than to ban menthol flavoring in cigarettes. Consider these findings from a March report by an FDA panel: Eighty percent of adolescent African American smokers use menthol cigarettes. Most adolescent Hispanic American smokers use me ... Jump to full article >>

RICHMOND — The Food and Drug Administration said yesterday that it plans to regulate smokeless electronic cigarettes as tobacco products and won’t try to regulate them under stricter rules for drug-delivery devices. The federal agency said in a letter to stakeholders that it intends to propose rule changes to treat e-cigarettes the same as traditional cigarettes and other tobacco products. The news is considered a victory for makers and dis ... Jump to full article >>

In his closing argument, Adam Trop reminded the jury that Allen Oliva was a pack-a-day smoker for 35 years, so there was little question that he was addicted to smoking. The addiction had to be a legal cause of Mr. Oliva’s COPD, said Mr. Trop. “Nobody smokes that much without being addicted, and nobody gets the disease without smoking that much. It’s really common sense.” For R.J. Reynolds, Jones Day’s Mark Belasic ... Jump to full article >>

No one needs to apologize for pointing out the grave health dangers of smoking, or for trying to persuade loved ones never to take up that awful habit. But the Obama administration is trying to have it both ways with the tobacco industry. On one hand, it wants the billions of dollars in revenue produced by a $1-per-pack federal tax on cigarettes. That tax funds a children’s health insurance program. But on the other hand, the Justice Departmen ... Jump to full article >>

A federal judge on Wednesday unsealed a government proposal that outlines what it wants tobacco companies to say in national advertising and on cigarette packages — that they lied to the American public about so-called light cigarettes and the addictiveness of nicotine. Judge Gladys Kessler of the United States District Court in Washington denied a request by the tobacco companies that the recommendations, by the Justice Department, be kept se ... Jump to full article >>

A meaningful ruling came out yesterday in a lawsuit filed by a group of smokers against Korea Tomorrow & Global (formerly Korea Tobacco & Ginseng), which manufactures and sells tobacco products. The Seoul High Court ruled that there was considerable correlation between smoking and lung cancer. It added that the plaintiffs had been smoking for a long period of time and suffered lung cancer, acknowledging the epidemiological relevance. ... Jump to full article >>

With his political opponents making huge gains and the economy still faltering, it’s been a difficult time for Barack Obama. But the President has won one major battle – he has given up smoking, according to his wife Michelle. The First Lady says her husband has not smoked in almost a year, adding that she is very proud. Mrs Obama made the comments in an interview at the White House Tuesday, adding that the President has always wante ... Jump to full article >>

Smokers are to be given free nicotine patches on the NHS. They will be handed out by surgeries and pharmacies as part of a £250 million Government drive to help people kick the habit. The patches give smokers a gradual release of nicotine through the skin enabling them to get their ‘fix’ without the cancer-causing substances such as tar and carbon monoxide found in cigarettes. As people become less addicted, they gradually use less ... Jump to full article >>

A group of Florida smokers asked a federal appeals court Tuesday not to force each of them to prove that smoking causes illness in the thousands of individual lawsuits moving through federal court. Such a ruling by the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals would mean that the more than 4,000 plaintiffs wouldn’t need extensive — and costly — expert testimony to prove to each jury that their nicotine addiction caused lung cancer and othe ... Jump to full article >>

CHICAGO (Reuters) – Hooked on cocaine or cigarettes? The U.S. government wants drug companies to make a vaccine for that. Convinced of the need for new and better treatments for addiction, the government is focusing its efforts on vaccine development as a new way to treat and possibly prevent addiction to a range of addictive substances. “It’s a perspective that is very different from what we’ve operated on in the past,& ... Jump to full article >>