Health care institutions' lawsuit against big tobacco nears an end

After about three months of trial in St. Louis, a case in which more than two dozen health care providers sued big tobacco companies is wrapping up.

The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports that 29 plaintiffs representing 37 health institutions, mostly local and regional operations in Missouri, are seeking more than $455 million from six tobacco companies for losses treating smokers. Closing arguments were expected to conclude Thursday, then jurors will be off until Monday, when they will begin deliberation.

Tobacco Business Owner Pleads Guilty To Structuring Financial Transactions

An owner of a Rockholds, Ky. tobacco business admitted in federal court Wednesday that her company illegally conducted financial transactions to avoid reporting them to the federal government.

Dennise Crawford, 44, pleaded guilty in London, Ky. before U.S. District Judge Gregory Van Tatenhove to one count of willfully causing a financial institution to fail to comply with record keeping and reporting regulations.

Big Tobacco gets snuffed out

President Richard Nixon didn’t think cigarettes were anything to joke about when he signed the Public Health Cigarette Smoking Act into law on April 1, 1970.

Warnings on cigarette packages had started appearing in 1965 following the 1964 report, “Smoking and Health: Report of the Advisory Committee to the Surgeon General of the United States.”

The report, released on a Saturday to minimize impact on the stock market and to maximize the coverage by the press in Sunday’s edition, offered one of the first official damning pieces of evidence against big tobacco. Findings concluded that smokers had a much higher mortality rate than non-smokers, greater incidences of heart disease, emphysema and lung cancer. It also concluded that pregnant smokers were more likely to give birth to underweight babies and that smoking was the primary cause of chronic bronchitis.

Tobacco War Brewing

A battle between the nation’s largest cigarette makers and a Florida company is heating up at the state Capitol. Price is the issue. Dosal Tobacco was left out of the states settlement with cigarette makers and is able to sell more cheaply, which has given them market share and upset traditional tobacco companies.

Florida made 305 brand cigarettes are popular. Chris Askey smokes them because the are as much as three dollars a pack cheaper than some of the traditional brands.

“ Five dollars a pack….Six dollars a pack….that is just too high for me,” he said.