New research provides evidence that the average cigarette is crawling with germs, including bacteria that cause respiratory disease. But as one spokesman for a tobacco company pointed out, the authors of the new study aren’t sure what, if any, hazard the germs pose. And exposure to bacteria is nothing new: Microbes surround us every day of our lives. Still, the findings raise plenty of questions, said study lead author Amy R. Sapkota.  ... Jump to full article >>

In a case with potentially major implications for scholars and publishers, a Stanford University professor who often serves as an expert witness against tobacco companies is fighting an effort by lawyers for the R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company to obtain the manuscript of his unpublished and unfinished book on that industry. A Florida state court judge has already authorized the tobacco company’s lawyers to issue a subpoena requiring Robert ... Jump to full article >>

Researchers have uncovered copies of sensitive internal documents destroyed by a Canadian tobacco company that could boost efforts by provincial governments suing the industry over health costs linked to smoking. The documents destroyed by Imperial Tobacco Canada reveal the firm had scientific data decades ago showing that cigarettes were addictive and caused cancer. “This evidence suggests that the industry wasn’t sharing absolutely ... Jump to full article >>

The current campaign to defeat health care reform bears an uncanny resemblance to the one secretly implemented by Philip Morris and its third-party allies in the early 1990s to defeat Hillarycare. I touched on the Philip Morris campaign, briefly, in “The Lie Machine,” but I’ve since uncovered a bumper crop of additional memos from the Legacy Tobacco Documents Library that offer a detailed picture of the cigarette maker’s behind-the-scene ... Jump to full article >>

Fallows passes along some new information: [R]evelations late last week by Tim Dickinson, of Rolling Stone, are at face value so important that they deserve to be underscored. It’s worth reading Dickinson’s whole dispatch and studying the on-line scans of the documents he has found. But to me the real news is the evidence that tobacco lobbyists secretly worked with McCaughey to prepare her infamous 1994 New Republic article “No ... Jump to full article >>

In response to this item today, concerning Rolling Stone’s claim that Betsy McCaughey worked secretly with tobacco lobbyists when preparing her 1994 New Republic article about the Clinton health reform plan, I have just received this note from Lindsay Craig of the Manhattan Institute: “Below is a letter to the editor of Rolling Stone from Lawrence Mone, president, Manhattan Institute for Policy Research. “In his article “ ... Jump to full article >>

Using her voice and personality, Patricia Henley was entertaining people from a piano top in North Beach, San Francisco when she was just a child. Decades later Patricia’s gumption, and her desire to do the right thing, would carry her into battle against a huge corporation she knew had lied to her—and which was lying to and recklessly endangering all of our children. When her legal battle ended, she directed a portion of the monetary gain t ... Jump to full article >>

A major tobacco company has rejected claims it is undermining the law by not following regulations on the use of graphic warnings on cigarette packets. Researchers at Otago University said a new study of bought and discarded cigarette packs showed the regulations were not being met. Graphic warnings became mandatory in August 2008 and tobacco companies are required to evenly distribute various images over all cigarette packs. Otago marketing pro ... Jump to full article >>

WASHINGTON, Sept 9 (Reuters) – Corporate spending limits in U.S. political campaigns may be too broad and silence free-speech rights of small businesses like a local hairdresser, Supreme Court conservatives said on Wednesday. But the court’s four liberals, including new Justice Sonia Sotomayor, said more harm than good could be done by overturning precedents upholding the restrictions on corporations and labor unions. The comments ca ... Jump to full article >>

George Weissman, who helped transform Philip Morris from a midlevel tobacco company to a diversified conglomerate known for contributions to the arts, and who then led Lincoln Center for nearly a decade, died on July 24 in Greenwich, Conn. He was 90. The cause was complications of a recent fall at his home in Rye, N.Y., his son Paul said. Mr. Weissman began his corporate ascent in the movie and public relations businesses, and one of his early t ... Jump to full article >>