A U.S. judge on Tuesday set a September hearing on the tobacco industry's request to block Food and Drug Administration requirements for new graphic labels and advertising that warn consumers about the risks of smoking.

Judge Richard Leon ordered a quick Sept. 21 hearing on the industry's request for a preliminary injunction, despite objections by the Obama administration, which argued that the companies would not suffer irreparable harm without it.

With the September hearing, Leon said he…

Cigarette giant British American Tobacco (BAT) plans to appeal an Australian court ruling that handed the tobacco industry a setback in its campaign against the world's first ban on branded cigarette packaging.

The Australian government is legislating to enforce plain packaging for cigarettes in a bid to reduce smoking, angering the industry which has described the reform as a misguided attack on their brands and intellectual property rights.

After the plan was first announced, BAT asked the…

New "constituent" warnings have been announced by the Thai Ministry of Health. The new regulations will require tobacco companies to print information on both lesser surfaces (i.e., the "sides") of cigarette packages, occupying 60% of each side surface area.

The 10 different labels are as follows:

1. Tobacco smoke contains poison: Hydrogen cyanide.
2. Nicotine is the addictive substance in tobacco smoke.
3. Tobacco smoke contains poison: Carbon Monoxide.
4. Tobacco smoke contains the…

The tobacco industry's latest legal challenge to increased government regulation may not hold up in court, but it could mean it will be years before cigarette packs carry pictures of a smoker's corpse or other graphic images meant to convey the dangers of smoking.

Such a delay could save cigarette makers millions of dollars, both in lost sales and increased packaging costs, industry experts say.

Four of the five largest U.S. tobacco companies sued the federal government Tuesday in an attempt…

The Federal Government says it remains confident its plain packaging laws for cigarettes will pass the Parliament, despite the Opposition threatening to block elements of the legislation.

 Legislation introduced in Parliament in July forces cigarettes to be sold in plain packs with a large, graphic health warning, while the second bill removes company trademarks from the packs.

The Opposition says associated changes to the trademark laws are not needed and it will not support them.

But…

Irish tobacco manufacturers have claimed graphic images on cigarette packets will not force smokers to quit the habit.

The Irish Tobacco Manufacturers' Advisory Committee (ITMAC) made the claim as it emerged five tobacco firms plan to sue the US Food and Drug administration (FDA) over a new law that will force them to place graphic health warnings on cigarette packets.

The firms in question, RJ Reynolds Tobacco, Lorillard Tobacco, Commonwealth Brands, Liggett Group and Santa Fe Natural…

Five tobacco companies filed a lawsuit in federal court in Washington late Tuesday challenging the constitutionality of regulations and graphic warning labels under the 2009 law that imposed federal regulation on tobacco.

The companies lost a similar complaint last year in the United States District Court in Kentucky when District Judge Joseph H. McKinley Jr., ruled they could be forced to put graphic images and warnings covering the top half of cigarette packages by the fall of 2012. That…

Next year will bring a doubling in the size of the words that appear on cigarette packages to warn consumers of the dangers of smoking.

Starting in April 2012, cigarettes produced and sold in China will bear a new warning label containing letters that will be no less than 4 millimeters in height. That will be twice the size of the current minimum, which stipulates that the letters be at least 2 mm from bottom to top, according to a notice written by the China National Tobacco Corp and…

Imperial Tobacco has become the third major cigarette supplier to launch a brand targeted at women in just four months.

Richmond Superslims are the latest piece of NPD to hit the market ahead of the introduction of the ­tobacco display ban for larger stores next April.

The product, which is being heralded as the UK's first superslim brand in the value-priced cigarette sector, rolled out to stores this week and is available in standard and menthol 20 packs priced £6.16 the same price as…