Tobacco Business

[ 34 ] TOBACCO BUSINESS [ MAY / JUNE | 21 ] I STARTUP / LEGISLATION In 1999, the U.S. government sued the major cigarette manufacturers, asserting claims under several federal statutes for conduct by the companies dating back to the 1950s. Then, in 2006, as a part of the ongoing litigation, the federal district court approved a remedial order that, among other things, required Altria, Philip Morris USA, Lorillard Tobacco Company and R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company to publish “corrective statements” and disseminate them through several distribu- tion channels to the public. Over the past few years, these messages were published in newspapers, on TV, on the manufacturers’ websites and on cigarette packages. This remedial order also included a requirement for each of the manufacturers to display a sign with the corrective statements in retail stores that have promotional contracts with the companies. A federal appeals court struck down the retail sign requirement and instructed the lower federal court to either abandon the signage remedy or adopt a remedy that protected innocent retailers’ rights. Note that retail- ers were never a party to this litigation, nor did the retailers make the statements that the U.S. government sought to have manufacturers correct. Now, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) has proposed a new point-of-sale sign remedy to the federal district court that the manufacturers be required to dis- play, for at least two-years, 18 different point-of-sale message signs in stores that are under contract with one or more of the manufacturers. Specifically, 25 percent of the area of point-of-sale cigarette displays for each manufacturer would need to be covered by the point-of-sale message signs. Moreover, 25 percent of any oth- er point-of-sale material that advertises or promotes the manufacturers’ cigarette brands must also be covered by the point-of-sale messages, whether or not a retailer has a contract with the manufacturers. There are five main corrective statement topics, with each topic including either three or four specific proposed corrective messages (which add up to the 18 messag- es that the DOJ proposes to be displayed in retail stores). The five main topic areas are incorporated into a preamble and then followed by the specific messages under each main topic as outlined below. Preamble: A federal court has ordered Altria, R.J. Reynolds Tobacco, Lorillard and Philip Morris USA to make this statement about the health effects of smoking. • Smoking kills, on average, 1,200 Americans. Every day. • More people die every year from smoking than from murder, AIDS, suicide, drugs, car crashes and alcohol, combined. • Smoking causes heart disease, emphysema, acute myeloid leukemia, and cancer of the mouth, esophagus, larynx, lung, stomach, kidney, bladder and pancreas. • Smoking also causes reduced fertility, low birth weight in newborns and can- cer of the cervix. Preamble: A federal court has ordered Altria, R.J. Reynolds Tobacco, Lorillard and Philip Morris USA to make this statement about the addictiveness of smoking and nicotine. • Smoking is highly addictive. Nicotine is the addictive drug in tobacco. • Cigarette companies intentionally designed cigarettes with enough nicotine to create and sustain addiction. • It’s not easy to quit. • When you smoke, the nicotine actually changes the brain—that’s why quit- ting is so hard. Preamble: A federal court has ordered Altria, R.J. Reynolds Tobacco, Lorillard and Philip Morris USA to make this statement about low tar and light cigarettes being as harmful as regular cigarettes. • Many smokers switch to low tar and light cigarettes rather than quitting because they think low tar and light cigarettes are less harmful. They are not. • “Low tar” and “light” cigarette smokers inhale essentially the same amount of tar and nicotine as they would from regular cigarettes. • All cigarettes cause cancer, lung disease, heart attacks and premature death— lights, low tar, ultra lights and naturals. There is no safe cigarette. Preamble: A federal court has ordered Altria, R.J. Reynolds Tobacco, Loril- lard and Philip Morris USA to make this statement about designing cigarettes to enhance the delivery of nicotine. • Altria, R.J. Reynolds Tobacco, Lorillard, and Philip Morris USA intentionally designed cigarettes to make them more addictive. • Cigarette companies control the impact and delivery of nicotine in many ways, including designing filters and selecting cigarette paper to maximize the ingestion of nicotine, adding ammonia to make the cigarette taste less harsh, and controlling the physical and chemical makeup of the tobacco blend. • When you smoke, the nicotine actually changes the brain—that’s why quit- ting is so hard. Preamble: A federal court has ordered Altria, R.J. Reynolds Tobacco, Lorillard, and Philip Morris USA to make this statement about the health effects of second- hand smoke. • Secondhand smoke kills over 38,000 Americans each year. • Secondhand smoke causes lung cancer and coronary heart disease in adults who do not smoke. • Children exposed to secondhand smoke are at an increased risk for sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS), acute respiratory infections, ear problems, severe asthma and reduced lung function. • There is no safe level of exposure to secondhand smoke. The DOJ proposal includes a multicolor design for each sign, which consists of a magenta and aqua-blue stylized asterisk, the message in white text on a black background and the preamble in black text on an aqua-blue background. An evidentiary hearing on the DOJ proposal is scheduled before the federal district court for this July. The cigarette manufacturers, National Association of Tobacco Outlets and National Association of Convenience Stores are opposing the DOJ’s point-of-sale remedy. TB The Cigarette Corrective Statements Litigation Contributed by Thomas Briant, Executive Director, National Association of Tobacco Outlets (NATO) An example of one of the proposed DOJ point-of-sale signs.