Tobacco Industry News

Research

"A delicate diplomatic situation": Tobacco industry efforts to gain control of the Framingham Study
A new study shows that the tobacco industry’s funding of the Framingham Heart Study was part of an effort to obtain access to and control over the study’s data. Researchers examined tobacco industry documents to create a timeline of events related to the tobacco industry’s interest in the Framingham Study in order to understand the motivating factors. They found that once the study’s funding was taken over by the Council for Tobacco Research, an industry-funded organization, a consultant was hired to re-analyze data in an effort to link tobacco-related illnesses and deaths to other factors, including age and ethnicity. Additionally, funding was ended for researchers that opposed these analyses, allowing the publication of industry-linked research that created confusion over the association between heart disease and smoking. The authors caution researchers who accept funding from the tobacco industry to beware of losing control over how data are collected, analyzed, and presented. Click here to read more about the study, published in the Journal of Clinical Epidemiology.

Tobacco firm's web impact probed
A recent study published in Tobacco Control indicates that pro-tobacco videos are prominent on YouTube, leading some to say that the government should regulate tobacco content on the internet. Researchers conducted a YouTube search using five leading tobacco brands as keywords, and then analyzed the content of 163 of the most-viewed videos. They found that 71.2% of the videos had pro-tobacco content, compared to 3.7% of the videos that had anti-tobacco content, and that the some of the most common themes were celebrities, sports, and music, all of which are attractive to youth. Additionally, 70.6% of the videos contained tobacco brand content, 71.2% had the brand name in the title, and 50.9% had smoking imagery content. Some tobacco control advocates claim that the videos are a marketing tactic used by tobacco companies because other advertising venues are no longer legal. Philip Morris and British American Tobacco deny posting advertisements to YouTube, and a Philip Morris spokesperson said that the company has contacted YouTube in the past to remove videos that infringe on intellectual property rights. The authors recommend that governments extend tobacco advertising restrictions to newer internet applications to reduce youth exposure to tobacco imagery. Click here to read more, or read the study abstract.

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Reports

Consider your source: Legacy's counter-view to the messages on menthol from the tobacco industry
In response to leading menthol cigarette-maker Lorillard’s Understanding Menthol website, public health foundation Legacy has launched a website presenting their counter-view of the subject. Legacy’s website was created to provide information about menthol that isn’t biased by a financial stake in menthol tobacco products. Legacy’s website lists some of the claims made by Lorillard and includes the foundation’s responses to these items, discussing the use of menthol in cigarettes, the public health effects of menthol cigarettes, how menthol cigarettes affect youth and minorities, and potential consequences of a menthol ban in cigarettes. Click here to view Legacy’s Consider Your Source: Menthol website, and click here to view Lorillard’s site for comparison.

Lorillard to launch non-menthol Newport cig
Tobacco company Lorillard, Inc. has announced that it will launch a non-menthol variety of its popular Newport® brand in November 2010. The announcement comes as the Food and Drug Administration’s Tobacco Products Scientific Advisory committee investigates the use of menthol in cigarettes, including health effects and use among minors and different ethnic groups. Newport is the second-largest brand in the tobacco industry and is the top selling menthol brand, holding 35% of the U.S. menthol market. Lorillard’s addition of the non-menthol cigarette is intended to help bolster its competitive position in the tobacco market. Click here to read more, or read the press release from Lorillard.

Star Scientific says lozenge may help with tobacco craving
Star Scientific Inc, manufacturer of tobacco products such as the Stonewall tobacco lozenge, has introduced a new non-tobacco “dietary supplement” called CigRx. The company claims that CigRx lozenges contain naturally-occurring ingredients that can temporarily reduce the urge to smoke. The product contains neither tobacco nor nicotine, but instead anatabine, a chemical found in tobacco plants, and yerba maté, the leaves of a South American evergreen tree. Because CigRx does not contain tobacco and is being marketed as a dietary supplement instead of a smoking cessation product, Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval of the product was not required. In-house and independent drug testing was performed on the product to determine safety and efficacy; results are expected to be published in 12-18 months. Read more here.

Tobacco companies settle bribery charges
American tobacco companies Universal Corp. of Virginia and Alliance One International of North Carolina have agreed to pay nearly $30 million to settle civil and criminal charges from the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Justice Department. Universal was accused of bribing foreign officials in Thailand, Malawi, and Mozambique to get tobacco sales contracts; Alliance One was accused of bribery in Thailand, China, Greece, Indonesia, and Kyrgyzstan. To settle the charges, Universal will pay $4.4 million in criminal fines and return $4.5 million in profit, and Alliance One will pay a $9.45 million criminal fine and return $10 million in profits. Both companies have also agreed to hire an independent compliance monitor for at least three years. Click here to read more.

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