Tag: R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co.

Tobacco Firms Settle MSA Dispute

Image: mehaniq41
Tobacco companies will pay Massachusetts hundreds of millions of dollars to settle a dispute about how much the cigarette manufacturers owe the state.
The deal ends a dispute stemming from the 1998 Master Settlement Agreement (MSA) in which tobacco companies agreed to pay states billions of dollars each year to offset medical expenses stemming from smoking.
Claiming that some MSA signatories withheld “substantial funds,” the Massachusetts attorney general’s office sent disputes over hundreds of millions of dollars into arbitration.
Monday’s announced deal resolves seven of those past disputes for 2005 through 2011, the office said, and will result in $600 million being paid to the commonwealth this year and “tens of millions” each year going forward.
“The country’s major tobacco manufacturers have pushed smoking products to young people for decades—and this settlement is evidence of our ongoing commitment to hold these companies accountable for their actions that caused irreparable harm to public health and safety,” said Massachusetts Attorney General Andrea Joy Campbell in a statement.
August 13, 2024
Synthetic Coolants Under Scrutiny

Image: yusufadi
U.S. tobacco companies have been using a synthetic coolant originally developed for shaving products to replace menthol cigarettes, according to an article in Chemical & Engineering News.
California and Massachusetts ban menthol cigarettes, and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration would like to prohibit them at the federal level, arguing that menthol makes it easier to start smoking and harder to quit.
In the 1970s, the British shaving product company Wilkinson Sword began altering menthol in search of analogs for its shaving products. It sought molecules that would provide the same cooling effect but without the skin and eye irritation sometimes associated with menthol.
Cigarette companies took note and created products using similar molecules to mimic the cooling sensation provided by menthol.
In 2020, the FDA determined that cigarettes with nonmenthol cooling agents, developed by R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co., are substantially equivalent to menthol cigarettes, basically permitting the marketing of them.
Critics contend that the vague legal definition of flavors has allowed tobacco companies to develop and market substitute menthol products.
In challenging fines received in Massachusetts for selling their menthol replacement products, R.J. Reynolds testified that these cigarettes scientifically cannot be a flavored product because they do not activate the taste or olfactory receptors, but only thermoreceptors.
Reynolds also has a lawsuit pending against the attorney general of California based on similar arguments regarding what constitutes characterizing flavor.
Public health advocates have argued for legislation that considers a molecule’s chemical structure and function.
They point to Germany, which bans multiple cooling agent in cigarettes. Belgium and the Netherlands consider molecules’ function in their bans. Canada has a list of approved additives that doesn’t include menthol or any other coolant.
Michael Chaiton, director of research at the Ontario Tobacco Research Unit, which studies the province’s tobacco strategy, told Chemical & Engineering News that problems arise when lawmakers attempt to regulate things they don’t understand. A better appreciation for how tobacco additives interact with the body would help mitigate their harmful consequences without reliance on semantic arguments about flavor, aroma, and taste, he says.
July 22, 2024
Reynolds Earns Water Stewardship Cert

Photo: digieye
Two Reynolds American Inc. manufacturing U.S. facilities have achieved Alliance for Water Stewardship (AWS) Certification. The American Snuff Co. facility in Clarksville, Tennessee, and R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co.’s Whitaker Park site in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, both recently earned the designation. Reynolds Operations Center (ROC) in Tobaccoville, North Carolina, received AWS certification in 2022.
The AWS Standard is a globally applicable framework for improving water sustainability performance. It enables factories, facilities, and other water-using sites to better understand their water use and impact and to work collaboratively and transparently for sustainable watershed management. Receiving this certification showcases that the Clarksville and Whitaker Park sites have implemented AWS’ best practices in five important areas: good water governance, sustainable water balance, good water quality status, protection of important water-related areas, and safe water, sanitation, and hygiene for all.
“Attaining AWS Certification at two more Reynolds sites underscores our commitment to protecting natural resources that we rely on to run our business,” said Bernd Meyer, executive vice president of operations at Reynolds, in a statement. “I’m proud of our teams’ commitment to running efficient operations and being good water stewards in the communities where we work and live.”
Reynolds’ efforts to use water efficiently across its facilities will progress even further with the addition of the recently announced WaterHub planned for the ROC in Tobaccoville, North Carolina. The advanced water reclamation plant, a product of a NextEra Energy Resource subsidiary, is projected to reclaim more than 60 million gallons of water annually.
August 3, 2023
Firms Start Posting Warning Statements

Photo: Krakenimages.com
Altria Group, R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. and ITG Brands have started posting warning signs about cigarette smoking in more than 200,000 stores across the United States, reports CNN. The move represents one of the final steps in a lawsuit the Justice Department filed against the tobacco industry in 1999.
The signs include court-specified statements such as “Smoking kills, on average, 1,200 Americans. Every day.” They must be posted until June 30, 2025, in “highly visible places” in English and also Spanish in regions with significant numbers of Spanish speakers.
The postings come after years of dispute following U.S. District Court Judge Gladys Kessler’s judgment in 2006, when the tobacco companies were first ordered to make the corrective statements. The landmark judgment found the industry defendants guilty of lying about the dangers of cigarettes and secondhand smoke.
The defendants lied “about the devastating health effects of smoking and environmental tobacco smoke, they suppressed research, they destroyed documents, they manipulated the use of nicotine so as to increase and perpetuate addiction, they distorted the truth about low tar and light cigarettes so as to discourage smokers from quitting, and they abused the legal system in order to achieve their goal—to make money with little, if any, regard for individual illness and suffering, soaring health costs, or the integrity of the legal system,” Kessler said in her final opinion.
R.J. Reynolds said these corrective statement signs appear on its website and had previously appeared in newspapers, television, radio and on pack inserts. “The tobacco industry has evolved considerably since this lawsuit was filed nearly 25 years ago, back in 1999,” a company spokesperson said. “Today, Reynolds American Inc. and its operating companies have a clear purpose to build ‘A Better Tomorrow’ by reducing the health impact of our business.”
July 3, 2023
‘Mimic Menthols’ Soar Following Flavor Ban
R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co.’s (RJR) “California compliant” cigarettes, which contain an artificial, flavorless cooling chemical, have proven a big hit among smokers in the wake of the state’s ban on menthol cigarettes and other flavored tobacco products, according to an article in Politico.
By March, sales of the new cigarettes were on track to replace nearly half of the menthol sales compared to last year, according to an expert cited by Politico who tracks cigarette sales trends.
RJR sold 2.8 million packs of Camel-branded menthol cigarettes and 2 million packs of Newport-branded menthol cigarettes in California in March 2022, according to Alex Liber, an assistant professor in the department of oncology at Georgetown University’s School of Medicine who studies tobacco sale trends.
This year, the company sold 1.4 million “California compliant” Camel branded cigarette packs and about 800,000 “California compliant” packs of its Newport brand.
According to RJR, the new products don’t violate California law because they don’t have a distinguishable taste or aroma other than tobacco. California law defines a flavored tobacco product as any product that has a “distinguishable taste or aroma, or both, other than the taste or aroma of tobacco, imparted by a tobacco product or any byproduct produced by the tobacco product.”
Some of RJR’s new products, like the Camel Crisp, contain a lab-made chemical called ethyl menthane carboxamide, or WS3. That chemical has less of the minty odor than menthol, but it provides the same cooling, soothing sensation as conventional menthol cigarettes.
Other new “California-compliant” cigarette products don’t list WS3 as an ingredient. The company considers many of its ingredients to be propriety and is required to list them only under a general description of “natural and artificial flavors.”
The success of RJR’s “mimic menthols” comes as the U.S. Food and Drug Administration prepares to ban menthol cigarettes nationwide this year.
Menthol cigarettes make up nearly 40 percent of U.S. cigarette sales and are particularly popular in minority communities, with an estimated 90 percent of Black smokers using menthol products.
The California Department of Public Health said it is aware of the new products, but doesn’t have the power to enforce the ban.

Photo: New Africa
April 20, 2023
Reynolds Calls for End to Disposables

Photo: RAI
Reynolds American has asked the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to stop the sale and manufacturing of disposable e-cigarettes, according to CStoreDecisions. The company has called out Puff Bar and Elf Bar, specifically, due to the increased use of the products by youth.
Reynolds American submitted a citizen petition to the FDA.
“A new enforcement policy, one that is specifically directed at these disposables that are on the market illegally, is needed to better protect public health,” Reynolds American stated.
The petition requests tougher enforcement against disposables through increased retail inspections and by seizing disposable products at the U.S. border.
Anti-smoking activists criticized Reynolds’ citizens’ petition. “It is shameless hypocrisy for tobacco giant Reynolds American to pretend that it cares about kids and ask the FDA to crack down on disposable e-cigarettes when Reynolds itself sells the second most popular e-cigarette brand among kids, Vuse,” said Matthew Meyers, president of the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, in a statement.
“Is Reynolds trying to eliminate its competition for the youth market?” asked Meyers, adding that Vuse is marketed in “youth-oriented ways.”
February 17, 2023
Reynolds to Appeal Menthol MDOs

Photo: BAT
BAT will appeal the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s marketing denial orders for its Vuse Vibe Tank Menthol 3.0 percent and Vuse Ciro Cartridge Menthol 1.5 percent, the company announced in a statement.
On Jan. 24, the FDA denied marketing applications for two menthol refills used in Vuse Vibe and Vuse Ciro vaporizers, which are sold in the U.S. by BAT subsidiary R.J. Reynolds. According to the agency, Reynolds’ applications presented insufficient evidence to show that the potential benefit to adult smokers outweighs the risks of youth initiation and use.
“Reynolds intends to seek a stay of enforcement immediately and will pursue other appropriate avenues to allow Vuse to continue offering its innovative products to adult nicotine consumers age 21-plus without interruption,” the company said.
“We believe that menthol vapor products are critical to helping adult smokers migrate away from combustible cigarettes. FDA’s decision, if allowed to go into effect, will harm, not benefit, public health.
“We remain confident in the quality of all of Reynolds’ applications, and we believe that there is ample evidence for FDA to determine that the marketing of these products is appropriate for the protection of public health.”
Anti-tobacco campaigners countered that menthol e-cigarettes appeal to underage consumers. “Existing evidence demonstrates that nontobacco-flavored e-cigarettes, including menthol flavored e-cigarettes, have a known and substantial risk with regard to youth appeal, uptake and use; in contrast, data indicate tobacco-flavored e-cigarettes do not have the same appeal to youth and therefore do not pose the same degree of risk,” said Matthew L. Myers, president of the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, in a statement.
Morgan Stanley said it expected the rejected products to remain on the U.S. market for the duration of BAT’s appeal, with minimal impact on the company’s operations. “Longer term, should today’s denial order reflect a broader effort by the FDA to ban menthol e-cigarettes, BAT’s U.S. cigarette business could benefit given its menthol mix as it might discourage some smokers from quitting or switching to reduced-risk products,” the bank wrote in a note to investors. Reynolds’ Newport brand represents about 40 percent of BAT’s U.S. cigarette dollar sales, according to Morgan Stanley.
The Jan. 24 rejection of the Vuse refills underscores the FDA’s ongoing reluctance to approve menthol e-cigarette flavors. To date, the agency has approved only tobacco-flavored e-cigarettes.
However, the FDA has granted both a premarket tobacco product application and modified-risk tobacco product designation to IQOS’ menthol variant, which may eventually leave Philip Morris International’s heat-not-burn product as one of the few menthol reduced-risk alternatives on the market.
The FDA is targeting publishing a final rule to ban menthol cigarettes in August 2023, but considering expected industry litigation, final implementation could be five to six years away, according to Morgan Stanley.
January 25, 2023
FDA Updates Reynolds MRTP

Courtesy: US FDA
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has added the redacted “September 14, 2020 Amendment: Timing to Respond to September 1, 2020, FDA Deficiency Letter” to R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company’s modified-risk tobacco product (MRTP) applications.
On Dec. 18, 2017, the FDA filed for substantive scientific review of six MRTP applications from R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company for the following smokeless tobacco products: Camel Snus Frost, Camel Snus Frost Large, Camel Snus Mellow, Camel Snus Mint, Camel Snus Robust and Camel Snus Winterchill.
On Oct. 25, 2022, R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company requested to withdraw these applications from FDA review.
December 1, 2022
Reynolds Settles Vuse Patent Suit Before Trial

Photo: RAI
R.J. Reynolds (RJR) has settled Fuma International’s claims that Reynold’s Vuse products infringed on the manufacturer’s e-cigarette patents, reports Reuters. RJR settled the suit just four days before the trial was slated to begin, according to a Thursday filing in North Carolina federal court.
U.S. District Judge Catherine Eagles found in May that RJR’s products infringed parts of two Fuma patents. A jury in Greensboro, North Carolina, USA, was set to consider on Nov. 15 whether RJR infringed additional parts of one of the patents, whether the patents were valid, and what damages RJR owed, among other things.
Fuma sued in 2019 for infringing patents related to an e-cigarette design with a cartridge and power source. The complaint said RJR copied Fuma’s design after meeting with Fuma about its e-cigarette technology in 2010.
Fuma asked for up to $135 million in damages, according to court filings.
Vuse is one of the most popular e-cigarette brands in the U.S. RJR introduced the Vuse Solo in 2013 and the Vuse Ciro in 2017. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration gave RJR permission to market Solo in October, its first-ever authorization for a vaping product.
The tobacco giant argued the relevant parts of the patents were invalid based on prior art that disclosed the same design, according to Reuters. Details of the settlement weren’t immediately available.
November 14, 2021
RJR and ITG Resolve Texas Payments Dispute

Photo: Alex
R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. and ITG Brands have reached a financial settlement with the state of Texas that resolves the question of responsibility for annual Master Settlement Agreement-type payments on four traditional cigarette brands, reports the Winston-Salem Journal.
ITG has accepted all payment obligations to the Texas settlement agreement for the Kool, Maverick, Salem and Winston brands.
The dispute stems from the 2014 purchase by Reynolds American of Lorillard. To obtain federal regulatory approval for the deal, RJR and Lorillard sold the four brands to ITG’s parent company, Imperial Brands.
After the sale, a dispute broke out about which company was responsible for settlement payments on the brands.
The MSA was a 1998 agreement in which tobacco companies settled litigation with state attorneys general over the cost of treating sick smokers. Several states, including Texas, made their own deals with tobacco companies.
In December 2020, the Florida Supreme Court declined to hear an appeal by RJR in a dispute over the four brands, leaving responsibility for the MSA payments with Reynolds.
The four ITG brands combined currently represent about 7.5 percent of the U.S. market share for traditional cigarettes.
May 31, 2021