SINGAPORE – The Health Minister will soon have the final say on what tobacco products and substitutes will be allowed here. Proposed changes to the law, which were introduced yesterday in Parliament, would give him flexibility to prohibit new or emerging products as well as existing ones. Mr Khaw Boon Wan had signalled his concern earlier this month that smokeless alternatives, which would include strips, lozenges, snus and nicotine candies ... Jump to full article >>

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Marlboro maker Altria Group Inc. said Wednesday higher prices, gains in its cigarette, smokeless tobacco and wine business and cost cutting led its first-quarter profit to climb 38 percent. The owner of nation’s biggest cigarette maker, Philip Morris USA, also reaffirmed its guidance for the year but said the second quarter will be challenging for income growth. Altria, based in Richmond, Va., said it earned $813 million, or 39 cents per sh ... Jump to full article >>

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It’s one of the most old-fashioned taxes of all, but the question of what you measure to levy it is emerging as the latest skirmish in the never-ending battle for space on stores’ tobacco shelves. The stakes can be high — a change in the way Texas levied its excise tax on smokeless tobacco has just about driven old-fashioned, loose-leaf chewing tobacco out of the state. Now, in Virginia, the muted clash over the excise tax betwe ... Jump to full article >>

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FOR years, Altria, home to Philip Morris and its popular Marlboro cigarette brand, was a corporate pariah blamed for the deaths of millions of people and sued for hundreds of billions of dollars by attorneys general in every state. After eventually acknowledging, like others in its industry, that cigarette smoking was, indeed, addictive and caused disease, Altria went a step further. It broke from the Big Tobacco pack and began supporting legisla ... Jump to full article >>

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A federal judge in Maryland has denied Star Scientific Inc.’s request for a new trial after the company lost a patent infringement case against R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. Petersburg-based Star, a small firm that makes smokeless tobacco products, said yesterday that it will appeal a June jury verdict in Reynolds’ favor. The company, which had asked the federal district court to set aside the jury verdict, will now appeal to the U.S. Cou ... Jump to full article >>

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A law passed last week by the New Jersey Senate is raising the ire of public health experts, anti-smoking activists, and consumer advocacy groups. The bill, sponsored by Senators Bob Gordon and Joseph Vitale, prohibits the use of so-called electronic cigarettes where smoking is prohibited, making e-cigarettes subject to the provisions of the New Jersey Smoke Free Air Act. The problem? The devices don’t produce any smoke. Dr. David Baron, fo ... Jump to full article >>

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