Florida Tobacco Lawyer
Tobacco News
General news from the tobacco industry, not necessarily concentrating on lawsuit information.
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Editor: C. Calvin Warriner
Profession: Cigarette & Tobacco Attorney
Time is on Tobacco's Side
Category: Cigarettes
Kudos to Tampa Bay Attorney Bob Carroll for highlighting the Florida Supreme Court's ruling in Engle and the potentially critically short time for victim's pursuit of claims.
Tobacco and Stomach Cancer
Category: Cigarettes
A recent study has concluded that there exists a casual relationship between tobacco use and stomach cancers. Dr. Ann Chao, with the American Cancer Society, conducted a study of 467,788 men and 588,053 women. Her group concluded that:"...the authors estimate that the proportion of stomach cancer deaths attributable to tobacco use would be 28% in US men and 14% in women."
In another study conducted by Harvard University and the University of Bergen has concluded that smoking increases the risk of multiple sclerosis.
The Kids Tell Big Tobacco: Enough is a Enough!
Category: Tobacco Litigation
The Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids filed a brief with the Honorable Judge Gladys Kessler. This, in and of itself, is not all that monumental; but this brief was in opposition to Big Tobacco's request that they be allowed to ignore Judge Kessler's prior rulings, at least in the overseas market.
Although just a few weeks ago, the same Judge Kessler had found that Big Tobacco had deceived, falsely marketed, and violated civil racketeering laws; Big Tobacco wants to know if she really means what she said(?) Eeven though we now know that Big Tobacco is still manipulating nicotine content, they just can't quit!
Continue reading "The Kids Tell Big Tobacco: Enough is a Enough!"
Reform Not on Big Tobacco's Mind
Category: Tobacco Litigation
After a ruling by a Federal District Court Judge that punished Big Tobacco; after we find they are still trying to regulate nicotine content to keep us hooked; we discover that they need clarification of the court's order to ask if they are compelled to comply overseas!
The USA Today reported:
"Sadly, the public doesn't know what the industry is doing with nicotine or any ingredient. Thanks to industry lobbying and campaign contributions, there is no meaningful regulation. Never mind that tobacco kills 400,000 Americans a year. Until Congress gets serious about regulating cigarettes, Big Tobacco will have the last word."
Marlboros near tops in cancer causing ingredient
Category: Tobacco News
A CDC report measuring the cancer causing content in domestic and foreign brand cigarettes finds Marlboro, Philip Morris' best selling brand a potent killer. Tobacco specific nitrosamines (TSNA) is widely believed to be the potent cancer causing ingredient in cigarettes. This article written in India where Marlboros were introduced in 2003 states that Marlboros contained as much as 900% more TSNA than domestic Indian cigarettes.
What's surprising is that Philip Morris' representative admitted that TSNA levels can be reduced in the manufacturing process. However, the description of how that is accomplished sounds like it costs time and money although that was not admitted.
As it is widely believed, programs, litigation and oversight have reduced the American market for cigarettes causing tobacco companies to target overseas markets in which to peddle their lethal products. It is believed that in India alone, a market in which Philip Morris' share is expanding daily, that one million people will die annually due to cigarette smoking within a few short years.
Massachusetts reports Tobacco lying about nicotine
Category: Tobacco News
A great link to the Massachusetts Department of Health study showing that tobacco companies have been secretly increasing the nicotene content of cigarettes. And this was not in the sixties as you would expect. It was in the late nineties! A time in which big tobacco was litigating a punitive damages case in Miami the subject of which their horrible conduct and lies regarding the dangerous health effects of smoking.
If you are interested in the facts, here they are.
No shame for lawless big Tobacco
Category: Tobacco News
In the truth is stranger than fiction category, a post ruling motion filed by Big Tobacco in response to Judge Kessler's recent ruling banning the sale of "low tar" and "light" cigarettes shows just how blatantly unfazed tobacco remains to litigation setbacks. Despite having been found guilty of fraud, corruption and racketeering, Big tobacco has actually filed a motion seeking clarification that the court's ban only applied to the domestic sale of cigarettes.
The companies filed this brief knowing that the judge had ruled that the use of such terms was part of a massive pattern of fraud and deceit. Yet in a sign of the boundless rapaciousness of these companies in marketing death, they had the temerity to ask her not to apply her order "to sales wholly outside the United States." If we can't continue to defraud Americans into killing themselves, they effectively asked, can we at least keep suggesting to billions of people abroad that some cigarettes are safer than others?
So commented the Washington Post in today's editorial. Its point being that litigation losses don't faze the multibillion dollar killers and that it will take bold legislation to bring the lawless tobacco companies in check. Can our elected officials continued to bow to tobacco's lobby in the face of an ever increasing mountain of evidence of tobacco's heinous conduct?
Judge Kessler bans selling of low tar and light cigarettes
Category: Tobacco News
Finding that they are no safer than other cigarettes, Judge Kessler's recent ruling (see recent posts) banned the selling, packaging and advertising of so called "low tar" and "light" brands of cigarettes. Research has indicated this claim to be a marketing ploy and that smokers who switch to these brands thinking they are safer simply compensate either in the amount they smoke or in the manner they smoke. You probably wouldn't be surprised to know that the tobacco companies have known this for years.
Of course the tobacco companies have asked the judge to stay her ruling pending an appeal.
Judge tosses senior's tobacco lawsuit
Category: Tobacco News
A federal judge in North Carolina dismissed a lawsuit brought by a group representing senior citizens to recoup Medicare expenditures for smoking related illness.
The group seeking 60 billion dollars in damages was seeking to enforce Medicare's right to reimbursement for medical expenses incurred by North Carolina Medicare recipents. As part of his justification Judge Stearns cited a Florida case that likewise dismissed private citizens rights to enfore Medicare law.
In his order filed Monday, Stearns said the case was a reprise of claims brought by the federal government in the 1990s against tobacco companies."These efforts by the government came largely to naught, with most courts rejecting the government's various theories of tobacco company liability," he wrote.
Stearns also pointed to a similar case in Florida, in which an appeals court said the plaintiff must prove a defendant's responsibility to pay Medicare costs before trying to recover them under the Medicare as Secondary Payer law.
Legislature's spending on smoking prevention programs from 13 billion dollar tobacco settlement disappointing
Category: Tobacco News
Nine years ago the State of Florida settled its landmark tobacco lawsuit resulting in a payment of 13 billion dollars. Part of the deal was that a substantial portion of the proceeds would be spent on programs meant to combat teen smoking. At a minimum, it would put the public on even footing with tobacco's spending to constantly bombard our youth with advertising.
It appears our legislature has refused to keep its promise. A recent editorial in the Sun Sentinel calls Jeb Bush and the legislature out to explain why it is only spending one million dollars per year on such worthy and proven programs.
Smoking preventions programs not working for students
Category: Cigarettes
A fairly recent study reported in the New York Times questions whether multi-million dollar anti-smoking campaigns aimed at young people are working.
What should schools do? "It may be that any program conducted in schools induces a certain amount of contempt in students," Dr. Wiehe said. Nevertheless she suggested that schools borrow from the antismoking advertising campaigns that have been shown to be effective."Schools could focus more on media literacy," she said, "showing how the tobacco industry targets prospective clients, and how to be more aware of their propaganda."
This is yet again more evidence that despite efforts, knowledge of cigarette smoking health risks does not overcome the product's addictive nature.
Federal Judge hammers tobacco companies in stinging decision
Category: Tobacco News
A breath of fresh air recently blew accross the tobacco litigation landscape when United States District Court Judge Gladys Kessler commented in a recent opinion, "As the evidence overwhelmingly demonstrates, cigarette manufacturers fraudulent conduct has permeated all aspects of their operations--from how they design, manufacture, and market their products to how they communicate with the public about them-- and continues to this day."
The experienced jurist didn't mince words in stating what is obvious to millions of tobacco addicted victims yet has been vehemently denied by the tobacco industry. What is even more shocking is the tobacco fat cats, having made billions of dollars peddling lethal products now cry that they have been punished enough. Tell that to the millions upon millions of smokers who can't quit despite obvious risks.
Continue reading "Federal Judge hammers tobacco companies in stinging decision"