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News Articles
| US/WORLD: Smokeless Tobacco to Get Push by Venture Overseas
by Kevin Helliker, Wall Street Journal
February 4th, 2009
Swedish Match AB and Philip Morris International Inc. announced a joint venture Tuesday to market smokeless tobacco world-wide. The venture combines a world-wide giant in smokeless, Swedish Match, with the world's second-largest purveyor of cigarettes, PMI, an Altria Inc. spinoff. |
| US: Tobacco Trial Opens in Florida, First of Many Suits
by Associated Press, Wall Street Journal
February 3rd, 2009
The first of about 8,000 lawsuits blaming the health problems and deaths of Florida smokers on tobacco companies went to trial Tuesday. The key to the case is proving whether now-deceased Stuart Hess was addicted to cigarettes made by Richmond, Va.-based Philip Morris, a unit of Altria Group. |
| US: Altria Ruling Ignites Legal Moves
by BRENT KENDALL, The Wall Street Journal
December 21st, 2008
The Supreme Court's ruling last week allowing smokers in Maine to sue Altria Group Inc.'s Philip Morris unit for allegedly deceptive advertising of "light" cigarettes already is prompting new legal activity, including an effort to revive a multibillion-dollar case against the tobacco company that had been thrown out. |
| US: Altria Said to Be in Talks With Tobacco Maker UST
by ANDREW ROSS SORKIN and ANDREW MARTIN, The New York Times
September 4th, 2008
Altria Group is in advanced talks to buy UST, the maker of the popular Skoal and Copenhagen smokeless tobacco brands, for more than $10 billion, people with close knowledge of the negotiations said late Thursday. The terms could not be learned. |
| US: Menthol Dose Manipulated, Study Says
by STEPHANIE SAUL, The New York Times
July 17th, 2008
A new Harvard study claims that the tobacco industry in recent years has manipulated menthol levels in cigarettes to hook youngsters and maintain loyalty among smoking adults. The report could further inflame a controversy over menthol in pending tobacco legislation. |
CorpWatch Blog
| Seducing Kids with Smokes, Gambling, and Booze
by Brooke Shelby Biggs
June 11th, 2006
R.J. Reynolds, of spokescamel fame, has come up with a new way to tap into kids' yearning to seem grown up: booze-flavored cigarettes with a gambling theme. Part of its new line of "Exotic Blends" are flavors such as "Screwdriver Slots," "Blackjack Gin," and "SnakeEyes Scotch." A trifecta of dangerous legal addictions. |
| The Vicious Tobacco Cycle
by CorpWatch
January 3rd, 2006
States' dependence on tobacco tax revenue undercuts efforts to reduce use. |
| US Lags Behind in Tobacco Regulation
by Brooke Shelby Biggs , CorpWatch Blog
December 20th, 2005
China, Uganda, and Australia all take steps this week in reigning in rogue tobacco companies, while in the US, a report shows that tobacco firms spend $28 dollars on advertising for every $1 spent on cessation and education programs. |
CorpWatch Exclusives
 | Absolving Your Sins and CYA: Corporations Embrace Voluntary Codes of Conduct
by Anne Landman, Center for Media and Democracy, Special to CorpWatch
August 18th, 2008
Multinational industries like tobacco and alcohol have responded to increased global public pressure for accountability around corporate operations by creating Voluntary Codes of Conduct to self-regulate their behavior. But how are the results measuring up? |
 | Playing with Children's Lives: Big Tobacco in Malawi
by Pilirani Semu-Banda, Special to CorpWatch
February 25th, 2008
Cigarettes may be damaging not only your own health, but also that of some of the world's poorest children. Much of Malawi's thriving tobacco industry rests on the backs of exploited children, some as young as five years old. |
 | Up in Smoke
by Chris Berdik, Special to Corpwatch
July 28th, 2004
Tobacco Industry Saves on Soft Money, Spends On Advertising and Lobbyists
The quadrennial special-interest cash race is on. Although the McCain-Feingold Act has blocked some of the flow, the political system is still awash with tobacco dollars. |
| The Fight Against Big Tobacco: Domestic Battles, Global Implications
by Robert Weissman, Special to CorpWatch
April 26th, 2001
As a new round of negotiations on an international treaty controlling the spread of tobacco use opens in Geneva, it is still unclear what the Bush administration's position will be. What is clear, however, is that international tobacco control will almost certainly not be a priority for the Bush administration. |
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