WASHINGTON — An ambitious 12-nation trade accord pushed by President Obama would allow foreign corporations to sue the United States government for actions that undermine their investment “expectations” and hurt their business, according to a classified document. Read more>
Bloomberg Philanthropies and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation announced on Wednesday that they had started a global fund to help low- and middle-income countries fight legal challenges to their smoking laws by the tobacco industry. The fund is modest, at least so far, with a total of $4 million
Tobacco products kill more people than alcohol, AIDS, car accidents, illegal drugs, murders and suicides combined. Left unchecked, tobacco use will kill 1 billion people this century. As one state Supreme Court recently noted, cigarettes likely constitute “the most dangerous product lawfully sold” to consumers. The lethal consequences of smoking
WASHINGTON – A temporary order by a Superior Court judge is keeping a man from smoking inside his home in the District of Columbia. WJLA-TV (https://bit.ly/1BrlPLl ) reports that Edwin Gray’s next door neighbors in northeast Washington have filed a civil suit claiming they’re being harmed by smoke that sneaks
Plain Packaging Should be Universal Yesterday, Ireland became the first country in Europe and the second country in the world to pass legislation requiring plain packaging for tobacco products. Under the new rule, all forms of branding will be banned, including logos and colors. The packages will be covered with
WASHINGTON (AP) — Never underestimate the staying power of big tobacco. In 2006, U.S. District Judge Gladys Kessler ordered the nation’s largest cigarette makers to publicly admit that they had lied for decades about the dangers of smoking. The basis for the punishment: Testimony from 162 witnesses, a nine-month bench
The powerful cigarette industry reignited Florida’s tobacco wars Wednesday with a one-sentence bill that would strip away the right of thousands of Florida victims from collecting millions in damages…. But for Bob Wilcox, 49, a Miami-Dade police lieutenant in the homicide bureau, the bill is an “outrageous” attempt to shield
In the past few years, several localities have increased the minimum age to buy tobacco products to 21. The first to increase the minimum sales age to 21 was Needham, MA, a suburb of Boston, in 2005. Following implementation of the law, smoking rates among Needham high-school students dropped almost
“I think we have seen this movie before,” Senator Richard Blumenthal said. “It is called big nicotine comes to children near you and you are using the same kinds of tactics and promotions and ads that were used by big tobacco and proved so effective” In a hearing Wednesday afternoon
Electronic cigarettes, promoted as a healthier alternative to tobacco, are getting powerful new backers with an unhealthy reputation: big tobacco companies.The development points to ways Big Tobacco is moving to turn the young e-cigarette market to its advantage. Full Article>
Annually, the tobacco industry contributes over $1.6 million to federal candidates and spends approximately $16.6 million lobbying Congress. This money buys the tobacco industry access to government officials and influence over laws. This is a serious problem, because, there is a fundamental and irreconcilable conflict between the tobacco industry’s interests
Tobacco is a Deadly Product – Tobacco kills up to half of its users. – Tobacco kills nearly 6 million people each year, of whom more than 5 million are from direct tobacco use and more than 600 000 are nonsmokers exposed to second-hand smoke. Unless urgent action is taken,
h How can you remove tobacco from trade treaties without harming trade for useful products? h h h h When has the tobacco industry sued a country for trying to protect their citizens’ health? h What makes it irreconcilable? h How many people have died since tobacco started benefiting from
