In August, 2009, tobacco manufacturers and sellers[1] brought suit [2] in the United States District Court for the Western District of Kentucky against the FDA, challenging provisions of the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act (“Tobacco Act”). In a case previously known as Commonwealth Brands, Inc v. United States, plaintiffs challenged the following requirements […]
Disc. Tobacco City & Lottery, Inc. v. United States Read More »
In April of 2009, Sottera, Inc., an importer and distributor of electronic cigarettes (“e-cigarettes”), sought a preliminary injunction barring the FDA from denying their products entry into the United States. E-cigarettes are “battery-powered products that allow users to inhale nicotine vapor without fire, smoke, ash, or carbon monoxide.”[1] The nicotine in each e-cigarette is derived
Sottera, Inc. v. Food & Drug Admin. Read More »
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CONTACT Edward L. Sweda, Jr. or Mark Gottlieb 617-373-8462 or 617-373-2026 2010 Verdict Reflected Juror Outrage at Handouts of Free Cigarettes to Children. The SJC today unanimously rejected Lorillard Tobacco Co.’s attempt to evade liability in a case brought by Willie Evans, whose mother Marie died in 2002 at the age of 54.
By Edward L. Sweda, J.D. In sharp contrast to the manner in which management at Reynolds American, Inc. conducted its annual meeting of shareholders a week earlier, Altria Group, Inc.’s Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Martin J. Barrington treated everyone at the May 16th meeting in Richmond, Virginia with courtesy and politeness. Barrington began his presentation
By Edward L. Sweda, J.D. As the hour of 9:00 A.M. approached on May 9, 2013, the date of Reynolds American, Inc.’s (RAI) Annual Shareholders Meeting in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, the atmosphere seemed more contentious than in previous years. In addition to the tight security that included
An article released today in the American Journal of Preventative Medicine by Holman et al. focuses on strategies to reduce indoor tanning. Indoor tanning with sun lamps (as opposed to spray tanning) increases the risk of malignant melanoma, the deadliest form of skin cancer. This is particularly alarming because about one-third of white women(who are
Florida smokers and their families who are suing tobacco companies won a resounding victory on March 14, 2013, when the Supreme Court of Florida upheld its landmark 2006 ruling in Engle v. Liggett Group, Inc., 945 So.2d 1246 (Fla. 2006). By a vote of 6 to 1, Florida’s highest court ruled in favor of the
Big Victory at Florida Supreme Court is Bad News for Cigarette Manufacturers Read More »
Food companies used viral digital marketing tactics, such as “tell-a-friend” web campaigns, to induce children to share e-mail addresses of their friends and spread brand advertising of unhealthy foods among their peers. Even very young children are targeted by these campaigns, which may be considered unfair and deceptive and in violation of state consumer protection laws.
PHAI Publishes Legal Issue Brief on Digital Viral Food Marketing to Kids Read More »
The Public Health Advocacy Institute at Northeastern University School of Law and its President, Dick Daynard has long sought to make an impact on public health and policy by thinking outside the box. In an op-ed piece published in today’s New York Times, Daynard looks at an endgame for cigarette-caused addiction, disease and death in
PHAI’s Daynard Maps Bold Endgame for Smoking in United States in NY Times Op-Ed Read More »
[Adapted from Richard A. Daynard’s presentation to the 2013 Annual Meeting of the Association of American Law Schools’ Agriculture and Food Law section, January 5, 2013.] Soda consumption is a major contributor to adolescent obesity.1 Fortunately, soda consumption has been declining recently,2 presumably as a result of adverse media attention and policy initiatives like the ban
Pepsi’s “Live for Now” campaign is the Joe Camel of soda marketing to youth Read More »