Janice Milliman, Quit Coach, Service Delivery:   What do cereal and tobacco manufacturers have in common? Walking down the grocery store cereal aisle can be a challenge, especially with kids in tow. Brightly colored cereal boxes with toys and other freebies grab their attention. Cereal manufacturers developed creative and effective ways of marketing toward their most important audience: kids. Unfortunately, tobacco manufacturers are using some of the same tactics to lure kids into... [More]

Ken Wassum, Senior Product Manager, Tobacco:   In a move that one cannot help but suspect is strategically calculated, Big Tobacco has filed suit against the FDA for restricting their First Amendment rights of free speech. The Congress passed legislation this last summer that gives the FDA the ability to regulate tobacco products, including how the industry advertises (Title II; Section 201; Sections a & b) their products. Given the track record of the tobacco industry of putting profit... [More]

Ken Wassum, Senior Product Manager, Tobacco:   Last week’s 79 to 17 vote enabling the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to regulate tobacco products was a historic moment. Forty-five years after the Surgeon General Report in 1964, the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act has the potential to save hundreds of thousands of lives in America. Notice I said “potential to save lives" rather than “will save lives.” We will have to keep an eye on the man behind the screen to make ... [More]

Ken Wassum, Senior Product Manager, Tobacco:   The recent increase in the Federal Tobacco Tax (62 cents), coupled with a price hike by the tobacco industry, is causing a lot of smokers to ask for help in their effort to quit smoking. This is bad news to Big Tobacco. Steven Stanek in The National Newspaper quotes Maura Payne, a spokesperson for RJ Reynolds, as “vigorously opposed” to the tax hike because it “will disproportionately impact poorer families.” Hmm….this is a population... [More]

Ken Wassum, Senior Product Manager:   Here in India at the 14th World Conference on Tobacco or Health, the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control is center stage.  The WHO FCTC is a treaty negotiated under the auspices of the World Health Organization. Since being adopted on February 27, 2005 it has since become one of the most widely embraced treaties in UN history and, as of today, has already 163 Parties. While the US is a party to the treaty we are not bound by it.  Why?  Bec... [More]

Erin Thompson, Marketing Manager:   Tobacco manufacturers recently disclosed a new list of additives found in tobacco products to the U.S. Health and Human Services Department. While similar lists have made the rounds for years now, such information never ceases to amaze me. Of the list of 599 additives, you can find surprisingly pleasant additives intended to enhance flavor and aroma, such as chocolate, cinnamon, clover top, dill seed, fig juice, honey, lemongrass, nutmeg, rose; ... [More]

Erin Thompson, Marketing Manager:   As October’s Breast Cancer Awareness Month came to a close, antismoking groups registered their protests at Philip Morris USA’s plan to launch the new pink “purse packs” of Virginia Slim “Super Slim” cigarettes. Part of the outrage, according to protestors, is the timing of Philip Morris's announcement. Pink abounds in October in support and memory of those who have battled breast cancer.  It's insulting that anyone--even Big Tobacco--would thin... [More]

Ken Wassum, Senior Product Manager:   In 1994 the tobacco industry stated, “…neither cigarette smoking nor the nicotine delivered in cigarettes is addictive.” In order to confuse the issue of the dangers to health from cigarette smoking, they planned to “..defend [itself] on three major fronts, litigation, politics, and public opinion…creating doubt about the health charge without actually denying it.” (F.Panzer to H. Kornegay [Trial Exhibit 20,987]). Of course, all along they knew nico... [More]