A San Luis Obispo doctor is continuing to speak out against Cal Poly for allowing students to accept scholarships from the smokeless tobacco industry as prize awards in collegiate rodeo events. University officials say Cal Poly has no basis to deny students scholarship funds from a legal source, and university officials note that no tobacco-related advertising is allowed at school events under a campus policy. Five years ago, Cal Poly officials ... Jump to full article >>

Connecticut and other states are taking aim at electronic cigarettes, a battery-powered device with vaporized nicotine, officials said. “We’re actively investigating these companies and their products,” Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal told USA Today in a story published Monday. Public health officials in California, Oregon, New Hampshire and New Jersey said the smokeless devices are the latest thing in the toba ... Jump to full article >>

Smoking bans are getting out of control, but the electronic cigarette is quickly becoming the dominant alternative to those who are suffering from them. At one point, you could justifiably expect to be restricted from smoking on public forms of transportation or in your office but nowadays bans are extending far beyond the confines of public buildings. Some North American cities even prohibit smoking in parks or on city streets. So what does ... Jump to full article >>

Some tobacco researchers have argued that the European Union should remove its ban on a form of low-nitrosamine smokeless tobacco referred to as Swedish ‘snus’. This argument has developed in to an international debate over the use of smokeless tobacco as a measure of harm reduction for smokers. Leading authorities in the USA have firmly stated that there is no safe tobacco – a message which does not allow for any discussion of ... Jump to full article >>

THE City Council this week voted 46-1 to ban many flavorings in a variety of tobacco products, and Mayor Bloomberg is likely to sign it into law. Speaker Christine Quinn justified it as an effort to protect children — but the main effect will be to make it harder for adult smokers to quit. The ban also covers many flavors of snus — a smokeless, and thus far less harmful, tobacco. Snus is a pouch of tobacco that goes between cheek and ... Jump to full article >>

A top importer of clove-flavored cigars filed suit against the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in federal court Wednesday to prevent the agency from banning flavored cigars. The suit comes a day after a ban on flavored cigarettes went into effect and after FDA officials warned companies not to try to circumvent the ban by introducing little cigars or other products similar to cigarettes. The lawsuit is the latest among other suits filed by tob ... Jump to full article >>

PETERSBURG, Va., Sept. 15 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ — Star Scientific, Inc. (Nasdaq: STSI) reported that the company’s counsel has received a notice of a first office action, or “Non-Final Detailed Action” from the US Patent & Trademark Office (PTO) as part of the patent reexamination process initiated by RJ Reynolds in January, 2009. As the company previously reported, RJR requested that the PTO find invalid Claims 4, ... Jump to full article >>

When it came to raising new sources of desperately needed revenue, stogies and chaw appeared to be the lowest-hanging fruit. Every other state imposes excise taxes on smokeless tobacco, and all but one other – Florida – do so on cigars. And the idea was widely popular in the Keystone State, public-opinion polls showed. So how did the ripe-for-the-picking products avoid being affected by the cornucopia of taxes that top lawmakers anno ... Jump to full article >>

In the new world of big tobacco, Altria (NYSE: MO) seems to be marching to the beat of its own drummer. Reynolds American (NYSE: RAI) and Lorillard (NYSE: LO) have joined forces to continue their fight with the government over increased tobacco regulation. Last week, the dynamic duo launched a lawsuit questioning the free speech (i.e., advertising) ramifications of FDA control over the tobacco industry. Kissing cousin Philip Morris International ... Jump to full article >>

Philip Morris USA plans to make a bigger push into the still-uncertain market for snus, a Swedish-style oral tobacco, expanding an experiment it is now running in three cities. The nation’s No. 1 cigarette-maker will market snus, using its flagship Marlboro brand name, more broadly this fall, said Michael E. Szymanczyk, chairman and chief executive of Philip Morris’ parent, Henrico County-based Altria Group. Philip Morris also will t ... Jump to full article >>