Delivering cigarettes purchased online by juveniles has become easier because of a unanimous ruling this week by the U.S. Supreme Court. Federal legislation is needed to address the concerns and effectively make such transactions difficult if not impossible.
The high court struck down parts of a Maine state law barring Internet or other mail-order tobacco sales to minors that required delivery companies to intercept packages from unlicensed tobacco sellers and verify the age of buyers. More than 30 states have such laws, but federal law prohibits states from regulating prices, routes or services of shipping companies.

Hawaii’s law prohibits selling or furnishing tobacco products to minors but does not specify measures to be required of delivery companies. “Despite the importance of the public health objective, we cannot agree” with Maine’s requirements, Justice Stephen Breyer wrote. Permitting such requirements in Maine “could easily lead to a patchwork state service-determining laws, rules and regulations,” he added.
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PEMBROKE — Lumbee leaders want to stub out any idea that the tribe has ties to a new cigarette that bears its name.

Lumbee cigarettes have been available in Robeson County stores since December.

Tribal leaders say they don’t like it, but they haven’t figured out if they can do anything to stop the company from using the tribe’s name.

What the tribe can do is get the word out that Lumbees don’t have anything to do with the menthol cigarettes. They don’t want anyone buying the smokes thinking they are supporting the tribe.

Tribal members have inquired about the association of the cigarette brand with the Lumbee tribe, said Tribal Chairman Jimmy Goins.
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HARRISBURG, Pa., Feb 12, 2008 /PRNewswire-USNewswire via COMTEX/ — Send Valentine’s Day E-Cards, Find Inspiration in Video Blogs on DeterminedToQuit.com

A Lancaster couple’s video blogs documenting their efforts to quit using tobacco are now being featured on the Pennsylvania Department of Health’s new tobacco cessation Web site, www.DeterminedToQuit.com.

Angela and Justin Williams have been married for a little more than a year and are determined to quit smoking together, not just for themselves but also for their young daughter.
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Students looking to do university research may now have more to worry about than ever before. An increasing number of colleges and universities nationwide have banned tobacco funding in light of the industry’s desire to get more involved with the students.

The McCombs Business School at the University of Texas at Austin was one of the most recent schools to ban tobacco funding.

Along with a $150,000 gift, Phillip Morris, the largest tobacco company in the U.S., and its parent company, the Altria group, wanted to support events and educational programs at the business school since it recruits a number of the school’s students as employees each year.
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By MINDELLE JACOBS

In a touch of marketing brilliance, Imperial Tobacco is promoting an alternative to cigarettes — an addictive smokeless tobacco called snus.

The tobacco product, a tea bag-sized sachet that’s placed in the mouth between the teeth and the gums, is currently being test-marketed in Edmonton, to the chagrin of Canadian anti-tobacco activists.

“You give any opening to the tobacco companies and they will exploit it enormously,” says Rob Cunningham, policy analyst for the Canadian Cancer Society.
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By Chris Burritt

Altria Group Inc., the world’s largest tobacco company, may announce plans this week to spin off its international unit, bowing to investors who favor faster overseas growth and reduced exposure to smokers’ lawsuits.

The odds are seven in 10 that Altria’s board will decide to split off Philip Morris International after directors meet Aug. 29, Filippe Goossens, a Credit Suisse analyst in New York, wrote in a note to investors last week.

“The best case is to spin Philip Morris International,” Cambiar Investors LLC President Brian Barish said Aug. 10. The Denver-based firm managed $10 billion, including 3.1 million Altria shares, as of June.
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By JIMMY SETTLE

Dry, hot weather over the past couple of weeks allowed area farmers to make good progress with topping and harvesting tobacco, according to surveys from the Tennessee Agricultural Statistics Service.

The annual tobacco harvest was progressing on schedule to a week ahead of last year, with the crop rated in mostly fair-to-good condition, state officials said.
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By ALAN BAVLEY

Ever find yourself lounging in your nonsmoking hotel room when you get the urge to light up?

Or how about those times when you’ve been in that rooftop pool overlooking the Hollywood Hills, where it’s hard to keep your cigarettes lit?

According to the R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co., those are perfect occasions to break out the Camel Snus, a new tobacco product being test-marketed in Kansas City.
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By Chris Torres

HARRISBURG, Pa. — Tobacco companies have been ordered to compensate Pennsylvania and Maryland farmers millions of dollars in lost profits as a result of a recent court judgement in North Carolina.

The ruling marks the end of nearly three years of litigation, which started as a result of a Congressional act passed in 2004 that tobacco companies argued excluded them from making compensatory payments to Pennsylvania and Maryland tobacco farmers.

Under the 1999 Tobacco Growers Trust Agreement, three major tobacco companies; Philip Morris, USA, Inc., R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company, and Lorillard Tobacco Company, agreed to compensate tobacco farmers in 13 states, including Pennsylvania and Maryland, for lost profits as a result of a decline in cigarette consumption.
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NEW YORK (Reuters) - The Illinois Supreme Court denied requests that would have reopened a case filed by the state’s smokers of “light” cigarettes against Philip Morris USA, according to a court document.

The 4-2 ruling, posted on the court’s Web site on Wednesday, stamps out efforts by plaintiffs to resurrect the failed case against the largest U.S. cigarette maker, a unit of Altria Group Inc.

Plaintiffs in the case had sued the company on behalf of Illinois residents who bought light cigarettes since the introduction of Marlboro Lights in 1971.
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