domestic policy

Domestic Policy

Lawsuits against tobacco companies have a history dating back to 1954, with the first liability case filed by a lung cancer victim. More recently, there has been an immense number of lawsuits against tobacco companies. The amount of lawsuits filed against the industry has lead to huge government regulations, but also huge company transformations. There have been lawsuits concerning lung cancer liability, manipulation of nicotine level, and the government’s regulation policies.

Top tobacco companies in the U.S. have been forced to diversify since the uncovering
of the link between smoking and lung cancer. The U.S. Office on Smoking and Health
took the following survey, which shows the trend of smoking diminishing as awareness
increases over the past three decades.

Smoking rates since 1965, from National Health Interview Surveys compiled by the
US Office on Smoking and Health:

% US smokers in:	%All	%Men	%Women
1965	42.4	51.9	33.9
1966	42.6	52.5	33.9
1970	37.4	44.1	31.5
1974	37.1	43.1	32.1
1976	36.4	41.9	32.0
1977	36.0	40.9	32.1
1978	34.1	38.1	30.7
1979	33.5	37.5	29.9
1980	33.2	37.6	29.3
1983	32.1	35.1	29.5
1985	30.1	32.6	27.9
1987	28.8	31.2	26.5
1988	28.1	30.8	25.7
1990	25.5	28.4	22.8

You’ll notice that the biggest depletion of overall percentage of smokers is between 1966 and 1970.

This could be accounted for by some of the following outlined legislation:

Cigarette Labeling and Advertising Act:

1966: Health warnings on Cigarette Packs begin
In order to adhere to the recently passed Cigarette Labeling and Advertising Act, cigarette packages begin to carry labels which read: "Caution--cigarette smoking may be hazardous to your health."

1967’s Fairness Doctrine: This legislation prohibited television commercials for tobacco products.

RJ Reynolds' top-selling Winston brand, which had been eclipsed in the 60s by Philip Morris' Marlboro, was particularly hard-hit. While the sales impact of the Marlboro cowboy translated into print beautifully, Winston's identifier was a catchy if notedly ungrammatical jingle, ‘Winston tastes good, like a cigarette should.’
Reynolds never found an effective visual substitute for their jingle. Throughout the 70s Reynolds became distracted with myriad diversification missteps, and developed business practices which led to shelves full of stale Winstons.
Philip Morris quickly became the number one tobacco company in the US, and its Marlboro brand became the number one best-selling cigarette.

Unfortunately now the tobacco industry is seeing a surge of teen smokers. The age group to which most tobacco companies target has changed, as of the latest reports it seems to be ages sixteen to
seventeen. But Clinton has made efforts to curb this, In 1996, at a White House ceremony, President Clinton announces the release of the Food and Drug Administration’s rule regulating tobacco sales
and marketing aimed at minors.

A new trend of trying to salvage the tobacco industry is firms joining forces and lobbying their states for protection. Cigarette companies “have taken unprecedented steps in recent weeks to protect themselves from bankruptcy by persuading tobacco states to pass bills that shield industry assets.”

For a link to more information and copies of the actual legislation brought against he tobacco industry by the American Cancer Society, please click here

For a closer look at the chronology of recent lawsuits, courtesy of Pioneer Planet, please click here

For another detailed timeline of the complete history of the tobacco industry, from 1492 to 1999, courtesy of MotherJones.com click here

For specific RJ Reynolds issues (litigation, policies, etc.) please click here

For video clips of the famous court cases concerning the tobacco industry and its top firms, courtesy of CourtTV.com, please click here

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