The American Lung Association just released its annual report, Helping Smokers Quit: State Cessation Coverage.  The report provides an overview of smoking cessation services and treatments offered in each state by public and private health care plans.  It finds that only six states provide comprehensive smoking cessation coverage for Medicaid recipients and only five states provide such coverage to state employees.  The report concludes that the lack of comprehensive cessation services in most states leaves smokers without clinically-proven treatment options when they want to quit.  It calls on states to provide all Medicaid patients, state employees and private insurance holders with comprehensive tobacco cessation medications and counseling.

The Food and Drug Administration sent letters this week to more than a dozen Web-based companies warning them not to sell candy-, fruit- and clove-flavored cigarettes to U.S. consumers online.  On Sept. 22, 2009, the FDA banned the sale, distribution and manufacture of flavored cigarettes in the U.S.

A U.S. District Court judge denied a motion for a preliminary injunction by tobacco companies that would block the marketing restrictions on modified-risk tobacco products in the new federal legislation regulating tobacco.  On August 31, R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co., Lorillard Inc. and a few other tobacco companies challenged the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act, claiming that the new tobacco regulations violate “their First Amendment right to communicate with adult tobacco consumers about their products.”  The judge rejected this argument in a 29-page decision.

Read more about the federal court ruling. 

Read more about the new federal legislation regulating tobacco.

The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court ruled today that cigarette smokers who have no apparent injury but are at increased health risk due to their smoking, can bring a class action lawsuit to pay for medical monitoring to scan for cancer that may develop in the future.  The court pointed out that “exposure to toxic substances and radiation may cause substantial injury which should be compensable even if the full effects are not immediately apparent.”  Until now, many states have rejected medical monitoring as a remedy in cigarette litigation.  

Read the decision in Donovan v. Philip Morris USA, Inc.

Philip Morris has dropped its lawsuit challenging a year-old law prohibiting the sale of tobacco products in almost sixty San Francisco pharmacies.  Both the tobacco company and the City of San Francisco have asked the federal appeals court to dismiss the case.

• Read more about the dismissal of Philip Morris USA v. City and County of San Francisco
• Read the Tobacco Control Legal Consortium’s amicus brief supporting the City of San Francisco in this case

As of September 22, 2009, cigarettes that contain flavors other than tobacco or menthol may not be sold, distributed or manufactured in the U.S., under the Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act, as amended by the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act.  The Act, signed into law earlier this year, gives the Food and Drug Administration regulatory authority over tobacco products.   The flavor ban applies to all tobacco products that meet the definition of a cigarette in section 900(3) of the Act, even if they are not labeled as “cigarettes” or are labeled as cigars or some other product.  This includes cigarettes or any of their component parts that contain “an artificial or natural flavor (other than tobacco or menthol) or an herb or spice, including strawberry, grape, orange, clove, cinnamon, pineapple, vanilla, coconut, licorice, cocoa, chocolate, cherry, or coffee, that is a characterizing flavor of the tobacco product or tobacco smoke.”

The FDA recently issued a letter to the tobacco industry reminding it of the September 22 deadline and stating that cigarettes and their component parts that violate this law are considered “adulterated” and illegal under the Act.  Adulterated tobacco products sold or held for sale in the U.S. may be subject to seizure, and manufacturers, distributors and retailers responsible for violations may be subject to injunction, civil penalties and criminal prosecution. You are encouraged to report any company that sells cigarettes with these characterizing flavors.

• Report Form
• Press Release (en Español)
• Federal Register Notice

» Visit the FDA website on flavored tobacco products.

» Read the FDA letter to the tobacco industry on the flavored cigarette ban.

» Read more about the federal tobacco regulation.

Beginning Saturday, it will be illegal to smoke in outdoor dining areas in Maine.  The new law applies to establishments that serve food or drink to the public for consumption on the premises. Maine is the third state in the nation to prohibit smoking in outdoor dining areas.

Read about Maine’s latest smoke-free law.

On Sept. 9, a federal appeals court rejected an attempt by Philip Morris to block a San Francisco law prohibiting the sale of tobacco products in the city’s nearly 60 pharmacies.  The ordinance, which took effect October 1, is the first of its kind in the nation. The Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled unanimously that the city’s ban does not restrict freedom of expression, as Philip Morris argued.  In affirming the federal district court’s denial of an injunction against the ordinance, the court wrote “Plaintiff’s advertising speech is protected activity.  Selling cigarettes isn’t.”  The tobacco giant could appeal the ruling to the U.S. Supreme Court.

Read more about the 9th Circuit ruling on the S.F. ban on tobacco in drugstores.

Read the Legal Consortium’s amicus brief supporting S.F. in this case. PDF, 128 Kb

This week, the Food and Drug Administration selected Dr. Lawrence R. Deyton, chief public health and environmental hazards officer at the Veterans Health Administration, as the first director of the newly created Center for Tobacco Products. The center, established by the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act, is charged with regulating cigarettes and other tobacco products.

Read more about the new FDA Center for Tobacco Products.

Following the release of recent Food and Drug Administration testing that found cancer-causing ingredients in electronic cigarettes, Oregon Attorney General John Kroger filed a lawsuit against Smoking Everywhere, a Florida-based “e-cigarette” manufacturer. The lawsuit alleges the company has targeted youth with its advertising campaigns and sweet-flavored nicotine products and has marketed e-cigarettes as safe in general and safer than conventional cigarettes without scientific evidence to support such claims.

Read more about Oregon’s e-cigarette lawsuit.