After FDA’s Menthol Announcement, PHAI’s Gottlieb and Daynard Consider Next Steps
In an op-ed published today in the Boston Globe, a day in which FDA announced it’s intention to issue regulations to ban menthol cigarettes, PHAI’s executive director and president consider what the next steps in tobacco prevention should be. Gottlieb and Daynard suggest that: The FDA should also remove menthol flavored e-cigarettes from the market. […]
U.S. Virgin Islands Juries Deliver $113 Million Verdicts Against R.J. Reynolds to families of Deceased Newport Smokers
The Public Health Advocacy Institute (“PHAI”) is pleased to announce that two tobacco lawsuits tried this month in St. Thomas, V.I., have concluded with verdicts totaling $113.3 million. The cases, Gerald v. R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. and Brown v. R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co., were brought by the children of two deceased smokers who had been hooked on Newport cigarettes as minors.
FDA Reboots Tobacco Regulation with Harm Reduction
On Friday, July 28, 2017, U.S. Food and Drug Administration (“FDA”) Commissioner Scott Gottlieb unveiled a revamped approach to tobacco product regulation in an announcement that surprised tobacco companies, investors, and the public health community in equal measure. The goal, as articulated by Gottlieb, will be to regulate products so as to encourage migrating existing consumers from […]
Snowflakes Are Found in 84 Degree Richmond: The 2017 Altria Group Annual Shareholders Meeting
By Edward L. Sweda, Jr., PHAI Senior Attorney As I approached the Greater Richmond Convention Center on the partly cloudy morning of Thursday, May 18, 2017, thoughts of sub-freezing temperatures and snowstorms never entered my mind. But, before the morning gave way to the afternoon, I realized that I had just seen dozens of snowflakes. As […]
PHAI Submits Comments to Support Smoke-Free Low Income Housing to MA Dept of Housing and Community Development
PHAI, on behalf of the Tobacco Free Living Community of Practice (a statewide coalition organized through the Massachusetts Dept. of Public Health), submitted recommendations to the Massachusetts Department of Housing and Community Development (“MDHCD”) for its 2017 Qualified Allocation Draft Plan and Low Income Housing Tax Credit Program. MDHCD implements the federal Law Income Housing Tax Credit […]
PHAI’s Gottlieb Comments on FDA Regulations’ Effect on Vaping Industry on All Things Considered
On August 8, 2016, new regulations by the FDA went into effect that have a profound impact on a major segment of the electronic cigarette industry: vape shops. The shops that mix flavors for vaping products are now considered to be manufacturers and subject to the same requirements as manufactures owned by the companies that […]
Spending 45 Minutes with 80 of My Fellow Altria Shareholders
by Edward L. Sweda, Jr. As soon as Altria Group, Inc. Chairman, CEO and President Martin J. Barrington opened the 2016 Annual Shareholders Meeting, he boasted that 2015 had been “another terrific year.” The “excellent business results” included dividends increasing by 8.7% (to $4.2 billion) and a shareholder return of more than 23%. Marlboro, with […]
PHAI’s Daynard Discusses Tony Gwynn Lawsuit on ESPN and in the New York Times
On May 23, 2016, the widow and children of baseball great Tony Gwynn filed a wrongful death lawsuit against Altria Group alleging that the manufacturers of Skoal smokeless tobacco’s negligence, fraud, defective design, and failure-to-warn caused the death of the Hall of Famer in 2014. Richard Daynard, PHAI’s president and University Distinguished Professor of Law at […]
May 5, 2016 – a RAIny day in Winston-Salem
By Edward L. Sweda, Jr. When Reynolds American International (RAI) President and CEO Susan M. Cameron told the company’s 2016 annual shareholders meeting that it is “always a pleasure to report good news,” this shareholder was reminded of a similar message: “Alive with Pleasure.” That ubiquitous advertising slogan for Newport cigarettes […]
PHAI Urges HUD to Expand Proposed Smoke-free Public Housing Rule to All HUD-Funded Housing
The Public Health Advocacy Institute submitted comments to a proposed rule by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (“HUD”) to make its public housing smoke-free. The proposed rule would affect 1.1 million households, but leave 3.4 million other HUD-funded households unprotected. These include the agency’s tenant-based and project-based rental assistance. PHAI argues that […]
