phillip morris – Oral Cancer News

Are lozenges and other smokeless products safer alternatives to smoking?

Source: Pennsylvania's Fox News Tobacco company rep David Howard waxes enthusiastic when he talks about a new product his employer, R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co., has developed: a pellet of finely cured tobacco, binders and flavoring that dissolves in the mouth in 10 minutes. Under test market in two U.S. cities — Denver and Charlotte, N.C. — Camel Orbs will join two dissolvable tobacco lozenges already on the market if it graduates to broader distribution. And Howard is optimistic it will. "These products provide smokers with an option to enjoy the pleasure of nicotine without bothering others," Howard said. "No secondhand smoke. No spitting. No cigarette butt." Dissolvable tobacco consists of small pieces of compressed, finely ground tobacco powder, binders and flavorings that are shaped into pellets, sticks or strips. When placed in the mouth, they dissolve within minutes, providing a nicotine hit. The tobacco industry says that the products contain far fewer cancer-causing chemicals such as tobacco-specific nitrosamines and are a "harm reduction" strategy that, like electronic cigarettes, might help people turn to less risky tobacco habits or eventually quit smoking. But public health officials and anti-smoking advocates fear that the products will help initiate a new generation of smokers. The flavoring and packaging appeal to children, they argue, and teenagers will gravitate toward a product they can easily hide. On Thursday, the Food and Drug Administration will take up the issue with an advisory committee hearing on the effect of dissolvable tobacco products on public health. "Tobacco companies are [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2011-07-22T10:44:37-07:00July, 2011|Oral Cancer News|

Tobacco industry adapts to world of fewer smokers

Source: The Tennessean Author: Anita Wadhwani By any name or variety you choose — call it snuff, dip, chew or plug — smokeless tobacco is making a comeback, and Tennessee farmers, factory workers and consumers are playing a major role in the renewed buzz. Farmers here and in Kentucky who once made a good living off raising burley tobacco for cigarettes have had to eliminate 40 percent of acreage devoted to that crop as demand has declined, while farmers who cultivate the dark tobacco used for chewing have been able to expand their fields by 22 percent in three years. Now, the massive marketing muscle of the nation's biggest tobacco companies — Altria Group and its subsidiary Philip Morris USA, which owns the 100-year-old U.S. Smokeless Tobacco Co. factory within view of the state Capitol, and R.J. Reynolds, which runs its smokeless operations out of a Memphis factory — are battling for market dominance. Together, the two manufacturers already control 90 percent of the American smokeless tobacco sector with brands such as U.S. Smokeless' Skoal and R.J. Reynolds' Kodiak. They're competing with new fruit- and mint-flavored products (some packaged to look like miniature cigarette packs) to attract a new generation of consumers and entice ex-smokers looking for nicotine- infused alternatives. Former cigarette smokers like Dave Kenner, 31, a construction worker making a pit stop at a West Nashville convenience store last week, said he switched to Red Seal Wintergreen smokeless because heavily taxed cigarettes cost too much — nearly $300 [...]

Charlotte Parker2011-02-04T12:24:02-07:00February, 2011|Oral Cancer News|

New, more graphic cigarette warnings unveiled

http://oralcancernews.org/wp/?attachment_id=9810

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2010-11-12T12:40:57-07:00November, 2010|Oral Cancer News|

The global market for snus and snuff is estimated to be in excess of 1.4 billion cans, and growing. Scandinavia and the US are by far the world’s largest markets for snus and snuff. Scandinavia is a pasteurized snus market, while the US market is dominated by the fermented moist snuff.

Source: The Swedish Match Author: Staff The Scandinavian snus market is comprised of a broad range of brands and product varieties, with pouch products being the most popular and continuing to grow in importance. The largest market in Scandinavia is Sweden, the largest snus market in the world measured in per capita consumption. Norway was the fastest growing market but Travel Retail and the Swedish market also experienced volume growth in 2009. Snus, traditionally a Swedish product, is increasingly being recognized globally as an exciting new market category. This is evidenced by the big tobacco players testing Swedish style snus in chosen markets. During 2009, one of Swedish Match competitors rolled-out snus nationally in the US. Still a very small category in the US, Swedish style snus is considered to have a long term growth potential. Swedish Match is continuing its efforts to assess and develop the market for Swedish style snus in the US market through the marketing of brands such as General. Moreover, through the 2009 joint venture with Philip Morris International, Swedish Match will pursue growth opportunities outside Scandinavia and the US. While still undeveloped, these marketsprovide future growth opportunities. Within the European Union, sales of snus have been banned since 1992. Sweden was exempted from the sales ban for the Swedish market when it became an EU member in 1995. The traditional US moist snuff market has achieved sustained volume growth over the past decade. The US snuff market is comprised primarily of loose varieties in a [...]

Charlotte Parker2010-07-01T10:54:36-07:00July, 2010|Oral Cancer News|

Big Tobacco Files Lawsuit Over Anti-Smoking Ads

Source: Gothamist Author: John Del Signore A Board of Health directive could soon require any retailers selling cigarettes to display graphic warning signs (like the sample here) about the dangers of smoking, plus information on where to seek help quitting. But that would violate their First Amendment rights by focring them to "undertake graphic advocacy on behalf of the city," according to a lawsuit filed in Manhattan Supreme Court today by cigarette manufacturers' R.J. Reynolds, Philip Morris and Lorillard, along with two Queens convenience stores and two retail groups. The signs, which vividly depict the insalubrious effects of smoking on various parts of the human body (think mouth cancer and heart disease), "do not describe the risks of smoking in purely factual terms," the lawsuit claims.Furthermore, "The mandated signs crowd out other advertisements and otherwise dominate the point of sale in many smaller establishments, to the exclusion of merchandise or other messages chosen by the store owners. The signs thus deprive retailers of the limited space available for communicating with their customers and thereby restrict their speech." Say, it's nice to see Big Tobacco sticking up for the little guy, innit? In a statement, the Health Department says: Tobacco is an addictive drug that kills some 7,500 New Yorkers every year. It disables many more. Yet studies show that many smokers are still unaware of the full risks that smoking poses. By requiring cigarette vendors to post warning signs at the point of sale in retail outlets, New York City is trying to alert [...]

Charlotte Parker2010-06-03T15:40:35-07:00June, 2010|Oral Cancer News|

Swedish Match snuff separates from snus pack

Source: Tobacco News Author: Staff Swedish Match North America, maker of moist snuff, cigars and chewing tobacco, is taking a different approach to marketing its Swedish-style snus tobacco product when compared to two other U.S. tobacco companies offering the product, according to a report by the Richmond Times-Dispatch. Swedish Match marketers began a sampling effort in Vail, Colo., and now are handing out silvery sample packs of General Snus on Wall Street — a sign that the product will be positioned as a high-end item, the report stated.”We are emphasizing the Swedish cachet,” Richard Flaherty, president of Swedish Match North America, told the paper when asked about the sampling push. In addition, Swedish Match’s General brand is more expensive than either the Marlboro brand by Altria Group’s Philip Morris unit, or Reynolds American’s Camel brand. The premium positioning is not the only difference in its marketing strategy.”We’re not marketing snus as something for when you can’t smoke. We’re marketing it as an alternative to cigarettes,” Flaherty said in the report. The company is looking for smokers who don’t want to smoke at all, rather than using the product as a fill-in to cigarettes, the report stated. For this reason, the company identified a key target group in parents who worry about secondhand smoke at home, Flaherty said. In addition, the focus on niche consumer groups rather than the general tobacco market is a reason why General isn’t appearing in convenience stores. Instead of fighting for shelf space with two of the toughest competitors in [...]

Charlotte Parker2010-05-27T07:48:07-07:00May, 2010|Oral Cancer News|

Tobacco ‘mints’ tied to kids’ poisoning

Source: msnbc.com Author: JoNel Aleccia Smokeless, flavored tobacco products that look like candy and come in packages shaped like cell phones may be contributing to accidental poisonings in very young children, new research suggests. Nicotine-laced pellets, strips and sticks that dissolve completely in the user’s mouth — dubbed “tobacco candy” by critics — have joined chewing tobacco and snuff to become the second-most common cause of unintentional tobacco ingestion in kids younger than 6. Between 2006 and 2008, nearly 1,800 U.S. youngsters — almost 600 a year —accidentally consumed smokeless tobacco products, according to an analysis of 13,705 tobacco-related reports to the nation’s poison control centers. That’s a fraction of the nearly 3,600 poisonings a year that involved cigarettes and filter tips, but it worries authors of the new study published in the journal Pediatrics. "Novel smokeless tobacco products, including dissolvable, compressed tobacco products ... are now of major concern, with their discreet form, candy-like appearance and added flavorings that may be attractive to children," the authors write. Potential poisonings add to the growing list of worries from those who fear that tobacco makers thwarted by anti-smoking laws are trying to peddle their addictive products to a new generation of users. Tasty flavors and packaging that resembles Tic Tac mints could be a powerful draw to young users, critics say. “Our response has been one of dismay,” said Cathryn Cushing, a spokeswoman for the Oregon Tobacco Prevention & Education Program. Oregon is one of three states, along with Ohio and [...]

Charlotte Parker2010-04-19T11:31:12-07:00April, 2010|Oral Cancer News|

Reynolds tobacco closer to buying smoking cessation products company

Source: Beasley Allen Law Firm Author: Kurt Niland Reynolds American, the second largest American producer of cigarettes and other tobacco products, is in the advanced stages of negotiating a purchase of Niconovum, a Swedish company that manufacturessmoking cessation. If the deal works, as it appears it will, it shows the determination of the tobacco giants to cash in on the “whole cycle of a smoker from the first puff to the last piece of gum,” said Chip Brian, a business analyst for SmarTrend. Based in Helsingborg, Sweden, Niconovum produces nicotine-replacement therapies (NRTS), smoking cessation products designed to provide users with a smokeless form of nicotine relief. Niconovum’s products are Zonnicpouches (small bags containing a nicotine powder that users put beneath their lips), Zonnic “pepparmint” [sic] mouth spray, and Zonnic gum. SmarTrend’s analyst points out that both Reynolds and the Altria Group, owner of Philip Morris USA and other tobacco product companies, ownpharmaceutical companies, but Reynolds’ purchase of Niconovum would be the first time a tobacco giant marketed and sold a smoking cessationproduct. According to the Wall Street Journal, “the potential deal would mark the latest and most dramatic move by Reynolds into nicotine products that represent alternatives to cigarettes.” “Sales of cigarettes in the U.S. have been declining for years, prompting Reynolds to move into products that studies have shown present much smaller health risks than cigarettes,” the WSJ explains. Reynolds’ acquisition of Niconovum might seem contradictory and even hypocritical, but it makes good sense for the tobacco company. Somesmoking [...]

Charlotte Parker2010-04-19T22:30:41-07:00March, 2010|Oral Cancer News|

What’s in a cigarette? FDA will study the ingredients

Source: Yahoo Author: MICHAEL FELBERBAUM RICHMOND, Va. – The Food and Drug Administration is working to lift the smokescreen clouding the ingredients used in cigarettes and other tobacco products. In June, tobacco companies must tell the FDA their formulas for the first time, just as drugmakers have for decades. Manufacturers also will have to turn over any studies they've done on the effects of the ingredients. It's an early step for an agency just starting to flex muscles granted by a new law that took effect last June that gives it broad power to regulate tobacco far beyond the warnings now on packs, short of banning it outright. Companies have long acknowledged using cocoa, coffee, menthol and other additives to make tobacco taste better. The new information will help the FDA determine which ingredients might also make tobacco more harmful or addictive. It will also use the data to develop standards for tobacco products and could ban some ingredients or combinations. "Tobacco products today are really the only human-consumed product that we don't know what's in them," Lawrence R. Deyton, the director of the Food and Drug Administration's new Center for Tobacco Products and a physician, told The Associated Press in a recent interview. While the FDA must keep much of the data confidential under trade-secret laws, it will publish a list of harmful and potentially harmful ingredients by June 2011. Under the law, it must be listed by quantity in each brand. Some tobacco companies have voluntarily listed product ingredients online [...]

Charlotte Parker2010-01-19T18:12:08-07:00January, 2010|Oral Cancer News|

Altria to introduce new Marlboro snus and other smokeless tobaccos

Source: www.us-marlboro.com Author: staff In conformity with the recently revealed marketing strategy, Phillip Morris USA has been focused on developing and introducing new extensions of company’s flagship brands Marlboro, L&M and smokeless products, said Michael E. Szymanczyk, chairman of Altria Group, the owner of Philip Morris. Altria also is eager to increase its leading position in the constantly growing market of snus, smokeless tobacco products, originating from Sweden. The top tobacco company across America will launch new snus variety under its best-selling brand, Marlboro, according to the chief executive of Altria Group based in Henrico County, VA. In addition, Philip Morris USA will attempt to expand its presence on the market of menthol cigarettes, by introducing a menthol extension of the mainstream discount brand L&M, Szymanczyk said during the Barclays Consumer Conference. And in the nearest future, Altria plans to launch another smokeless tobacco product, using its subsidiary, in order to capture more customers who prefer oral tobacco items. Altria CEO declared that they are currently working on the introduction of new variety of Copenhagen moist snuff with wintergreen flavor. According to industry analysts, the introduction of additional variety will contribute to approximately 9 percent increase of Copenhagen market share, from current 23% to almost 32%. According to Szymanczyk, U.S. Smokeless Tobacco and Philip Morris have joined forces to boost the sales of snus, smokeless tobacco items, selling as the extension of Marlboro brand. Snus resemble tea bags in appearance and are used for chewing and sucking with a flavorless [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2009-10-04T18:18:37-07:00October, 2009|Oral Cancer News|