Tag: United States

RAI calls takeover meeting
Reynolds American Inc. has called a special meeting of shareholders to approve the terms of its takeover by British American Tobacco and related payments to RAI’s executives.
The meeting is due to start at 09.00 Eastern Time on July 19 in the Reynolds American Plaza building’s auditorium at RAI’s corporate offices, 401 N. Main Street, Winston-Salem, North Carolina.
According to a note posted on RAI’s website, shareholders will be asked to take action, among other things:
* ‘to approve the agreement and plan of merger, including the plan of merger contained therein, dated as of January 16, 2017, as amended as of June 8, 2017, and as may be further amended from time to time (the “merger agreement”), pursuant to which RAI will become an indirect, wholly owned subsidiary of British American Tobacco p.l.c. (BAT); and
* ‘to approve, on a non-binding, advisory basis, the compensation payments that will or may be paid by RAI or BAT to RAI’s named executive officers and that are based on or otherwise relate to the proposed transaction and the agreements and understandings pursuant to which such compensation may be paid or become payable.’
Shareholders of record at the close of business on June 12 will be entitled to notice of, and to vote at, the special meeting and any adjournment or postponement.
‘Subject to the satisfaction or waiver of the conditions as set out in the merger agreement, including approval by shareholders of both BAT and RAI, it is currently expected that the proposed transaction will close on or about July 25, 2017,’ the note said.
June 19, 2017
Acting on child labor
In the wake of World Day Against Child Labor on June 12, some US politicians are attempting to reintroduced the Children Don’t Belong on Tobacco Farms Act, according to a TMA report citing Congressional Documents and Publications.
The act, if passed, would amend the Fair Labor Standards Act effectively to prohibit children under the age of 18 from working on tobacco farms.
One of the sponsors of the bill, US Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL), was quoted as saying that it had been known for decades that tobacco companies had no qualms marketing their deadly products to minors.
But Big Tobacco’s willingness to exploit children for profit didn’t end there, he said. Children as young as 11 or 12 had been found risking nicotine poisoning and long-term health consequences from handling tobacco plants.
US law prohibited children under the age of 18 from buying cigarettes, but children as young as 12 were permitted to work in tobacco fields, where handling tobacco plants could lead to nicotine poisoning.
Tobacco companies and growers’ associations in the US recently adopted voluntary standards to limit child labor in tobacco work, but this bill would codify the implicit agreement that a tobacco farm is no place for children to work.
June 14, 2017
Smokers not appreciated
In an opinion piece in the Gaston (North Carolina, US) Gazette, Lewis Guignard makes the point that nobody thanks the often-impoverished smokers who provide, through the cigarette taxes they pay, additional funds for social projects.
The trigger for his piece seems to have been an announcement that the Golden Leaf Foundation (GLF) was to give $634,000 to support an education budget.
Guignard said that, established in 1999 after the infamous tobacco lawsuits, the GLF distributed money given to the state by various tobacco companies as part of the tobacco companies’ settlement of various lawsuits.
Guignard questions the premise on which the lawsuits were brought by state attorneys general and the fact that smokers were not represented during the lawsuits.
He questions, too, where the money from the lawsuits went and goes.
And finally, he asks who thanks the smokers.
‘So it may be the Golden Leaf Foundation is handing money to these local schools,’ he wrote. ‘But the money comes indirectly from the poor, local cigarette smokers, and who is telling them thank you?’
Guignard’s piece is at: http://www.gastongazette.com/opinion/20170610/my-turn-we-ought-to-thank-smokers.
June 12, 2017
Suit over ‘cessation fee’
Oklahoma’s Attorney General Mike Hunter has said he will defend the state after two major tobacco companies and other interested parties filed a lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of a tobacco cessation fee, according to a story by Heide Brandes for the Red Dirt Report.
Philip Morris USA and RJ Reynolds filed suit with the Oklahoma Supreme Court over a bill that was signed into law in May.
Senate Bill 845 imposes a fee of $1.50 per pack of cigarettes, to be paid for by wholesalers.
The fee is scheduled to go into effect in August.
Lawmakers approved the fee as a revenue-raising measure to help fill Oklahoma’s nearly $900 million budget hole and as a way of reducing tobacco smoking.
The fee is designed to help fund health initiatives in Oklahoma.
The suit claims that the bill is not a cessation fee and is instead a strictly revenue-raising bill. According to the lawsuit, all revenue-raising bills must originate in the Oklahoma House of Representatives, be passed before the last five days of a session and be approved by a three-quarters supermajority of House members.
June 12, 2017
New CEO at PM USA
K.C. Crosthwaite has been named president and CEO of Philip Morris USA, the cigarette-manufacturing subsidiary of Altria, according to a story by John Reid Blackwell for the Richmond Times-Dispatch.
He replaces Clifford B. Fleet, who had served as president and CEO since November 2013.
“Cliff informed the company of his decision to leave in April,” said Altria spokesman Steve Callahan.
The company did not provide any other details.
Crosthwaite’s duties will include overseeing Altria’s cigar subsidiary, John Middleton.
A graduate of Marquette University with an MBA from Providence College, Crosthwaite joined Philip Morris USA in 1997 and has held leadership roles in brand management and sales.
June 6, 2017
Common ground for low risk
Vapers should give some thought to snus, because the fight for snus is the fight for vaping, according to the director of scientific communications at the Consumer Advocates for Smoke Free Alternatives Association (CASAA), Dr. Brian Carter.
Writing on the CASAA website after attending the first-ever snus convention in the US, at St. Louis, Missouri, Carter said that snus was low risk for much the same reason electronic cigarettes were low risk: its consumption involved no combustion.
‘Winning the public’s hearts and minds for one is a win for both,’ he wrote.
‘Vapers may grumble about the powerful forces that lie about and seek to destroy the products we credit with saving our lives, but the snus world has been dealing with this for the past several decades. Make no mistake, the playbook that’s been used in an attempt to destroy smokeless tobacco is the very same one being used on e-cigarettes today.
‘This is why vapers should respect and seek alliance with our snus using brothers and sisters. Together, we just might form an unstoppable force that politicians will be forced to yield to.
‘History is replete with small events involving just a few people getting together and triggering massive changes in culture and politics. Something is brewing, something big, among the lovers of the most popular low-risk tobacco product…’
Carter’s piece is at: http://casaa.org/news/there-was-a-snus-convention-in-st-louis/.
June 2, 2017
Spend more to save more
The US state of New Jersey is considering dedicating to anti-smoking initiatives one percent of the roughly $700 million it collects each year from cigarette taxes, according to a story by Michael Symons for WKXM-FM.
New Jersey apparently spends $10 million a year on smoking programs, money that comes primarily from federal funds, whereas it used to spend $30 million on such programs. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends that the state should spend $103 million a year.
That situation might change a little if a bill that sailed through the Senate budget committee on Thursday makes it into law. The bill would dedicate one percent or $7 million of the state’s annual cigarette-tax revenue to anti-smoking initiatives.
It was a step in the right direction, said Karen Blumenfeld, executive director of Global Advisors on Smokefree Policy. “Well, $7 million is a lot better than what we have right now,” she said. “Whatever type of funding is available to help people not start and to help those who are exposed to second-hand smoke and to help people quit is invaluable.”
Brian Shott of the American Cancer Society said the $7 million would eventually lead to 1,100 fewer premature smoking-related deaths and a nearly $68 million decrease in future health expenditures.
“This bill is a critical first step in ensuring that tobacco users in New Jersey are equipped with the resources that they need to quit their addictions and that others never start,” Shott said.
June 2, 2017
Capacity increase at VTM
US-based Vapor Tobacco Manufacturing (VTM) is expanding its manufacturing capacity for its heat-not-burn products.
The company said the increase was necessary to keep up with demand following a year’s test marketing in Indiana of its patented 3T® Organic products.
In a press note issued through PRNewswire, the company said that in April 2016 it had begun testing its new heat-not-burn products in Indiana.
After compiling a year’s worth of sales data and consumer comments, it added, it was ‘compelled’ to increase its manufacturing capacity.
3T® Organic’s rechargeable heat-not-burn product was said to have carved out a new category between traditional cigarettes and electronic products, offering a hybrid alternative.
The company said that 3T® Organic used the nicotine and patented tobacco flavoring extracted from US-grown organic tobacco leaves, which were heated not burned, ‘unlocking the rich, true tobacco flavor that smokers desire, without burning tobacco’.
3T® Organic was the first and only electronic-nicotine-delivery-system device with USDA certified organic ingredients.
It is said to be available in ‘Red, Gold, and Menthol’.
June 1, 2017
Health spending inefficient
Action on Smoking and Health (ASH) has released a report indicating the health of US citizens ranks 43^rd globally despite the country’s spending more than any other country per capita on health.
The report, Tobacco in America: Leaving the Vulnerable Behind, is said to highlight the US’s failure to live up to aspirational global goals regarding tobacco use.
‘While national smoking prevalence has been driven down over the past two decades, specific communities like the poor and less educated bear a disproportionate share of the costs of tobacco,’ ASH said in a press note issued through PRNewswire. ‘Partly as a result, the US now ranks 43rd in the world, despite spending more than any other country per capita on health.’
The report, released for World No Tobacco Day, looks at US progress towards implementing measures and reaching global health goals targeting tobacco use.
ASH said that, overall, tobacco remained the number one cause of preventable death in the US, accounting for one in five deaths and costing the country’s economy more than $300 billion per year.
‘Nationally, about 15 percent of US adults smoke, down from nearly 50 percent in the 1960s,’ the press note said. ‘However, progress has been far from uniform. ‘The following demographics smoke at much higher rates:
- Racial minorities like Native Americans;
- Marginalized groups like the LGBTQI community;
- Those who are less educated or living in poverty;
- Southern & Midwestern states.
“The US will be embarrassed to report on progress made toward these global goals,” said Laurent Huber, executive director of ASH. “Americans are less protected than much poorer countries, despite spending more on health care.”
The full report is at: http://ash.org/tobacco-in-america.
May 31, 2017
RAI names BAT-era team
Reynolds American Inc. yesterday announced its proposed leadership team given the third-quarter acquisition of RAI by British American Tobacco goes ahead.
Debra A. Crew will remain as president and CEO of RAI and, should the acquisition be completed, she will report to Nicandro Durante, president and CEO of BAT.
Andrew D. Gilchrist, currently executive vice president and CFO of RAI, is said to have indicated that, in the event of the completion of the proposed acquisition, he intends to resign from the company shortly thereafter. Gilchrist’s replacement, who will be named in the future, will report to Crew.
‘Should the acquisition be successfully completed, the majority of RAI and its subsidiaries’ senior executives will remain with the RAI companies,’ RAI said in a note posted on its website.
“I’m delighted that so many of our companies’ strong, seasoned leaders will remain in their roles following completion of the proposed acquisition,” Crew was quoted as saying. “As a group, we are committed to our shared vision of transforming the US tobacco industry, and we are confident that being part of a much larger, global organization will enable us to achieve this vision and amplify our success,” she said.
RAI said that, in the weeks ahead, a new executive vice president of consumer marketing for RJRT was expected to be named because Cressida Lozano had indicated that, in the event of the completion of the proposed acquisition, she intended to resign from the company later this year.
‘In addition to Gilchrist and Lozano, J. Brice O’Brien, the current executive vice president of public affairs and chief communications officer, has indicated that, in the event of the completion of the proposed acquisition, he intends to resign from the company shortly thereafter,’ the note said. ‘Following such departure, his responsibilities will be assigned to Mark Holton, in addition to Holton’s continuing role as RAI’s general counsel.’
“Our companies owe Andrew Gilchrist, Brice O’Brien and Cressida Lozano tremendous thanks for their leadership and commitment to our shared success,” Crew said. “Should these resignations occur, we wish them all the best in their future endeavors.”
‘RAI’s acquisition by BAT is subject to approval by both companies’ shareholders as well as other customary closing conditions,’ the note said. ‘RAI continues to expect the transaction to be completed in the third quarter of 2017.’
May 31, 2017