Big Tobacco preps to fight back

It was only a matter of time until U.S. cigarette makers fought back.
Two of the nation’s largest took the offensive last Friday when Lorillard Inc. and R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. filed suit in U.S. federal court attempting to stop the Food and Drug Administration from listening to the Tobacco Products Scientific Advisory Committee.
The suit alleges three members of the panel have conflicts of interest stemming from their financial ties to pharmaceutical companies that make smoking cessation products and also due to their participation as expert witnesses in anti-tobacco lawsuits. According to the suit, this violates the federal requirement that panel members be unbiased and free from any special interest influences.
The merit of the case is up to the lawyers to hash out in open court.
But I don’t think it’s any accident that all this posturing has happened at this time.  This is the very month that the Tobacco Scientific Advisory Committee is scheduled to release a report on the public health impact of menthol cigarettes.
Menthol cigarettes have become the next hot-button issue in the war on tobacco, as opponents say that the minty flavor entices young people to take up the habit and may make it harder to quit. It is also alleged that menthol cigarettes are smoked by a disproportionate number of African-American smokers.

It doesn’t take a genius to figure out that thetobacco giants know the report is going to be unfavorable, and they are trying to undermine the creditability of the panel any way they can.
Does any of this really matter?
Don’t get me wrong. We are all for keeping tobacco out of the hands of minors and discouraging pregnant women from smoking.
But the majority of U.S. smokers are adults who are fully aware of the risks of their habit. They will smoke until they want to quit. It’s a personal choice and no amount of paper flying around the federal court system will change that.