How smokers have boosted state tax revenue during the pandemic

Mar 16, 2021
Some states got an unexpected bump from tobacco taxes. The number of people smoking has declined steadily, except in 2020.
A fair amount of money gained from "sin taxes" on products like tobacco helps fund antismoking campaigns.
China Photos/Getty Images

How grassroots activists fought Big Tobacco

Nov 25, 2019
Regulation of the tobacco industry didn't happen overnight.
Fred Tanneau/AFP/Getty Images

Tobacco sales can be hard to quit

Feb 8, 2019
Big pharmacy chains like Walgreens and Rite Aid market a healthy lifestyle, while also selling cigarettes and other tobacco products.
Big pharmacy chains like Walgreens and Rite Aid market a healthy lifestyle, while also selling cigarettes and other tobacco products.
Brendon Thorne/Getty Images

Marlboro manufacturer makes a big bet that the future is vaping

Dec 20, 2018
Today the Altria Group – the tobacco giant that used to be known as Philip Morris – announced it’s spending $12.8 billion to buy a 35 percent stake in Juul Labs. That’s the e-cigarette maker that dominates the vaping market here in the U.S., and which some public-health advocates worry is getting another generation hooked […]

Menthol ban would undo years of marketing to African Americans

Nov 16, 2018
After World War II, tobacco companies found blacks slightly preferred menthol more than whites; decades of marketing followed.
 Menthol cigarettes are seen for sale on a shelf at a Quick Stop store on March 30, 2010 in Miami, Florida.
Joe Raedle/Getty Images

Juul pulls social media accounts ahead of FDA regulations

Nov 14, 2018
E-cigarette company, Juul announced it’s taking steps to curb its appeal to potential underage users. It has made its Facebook and Instagram accounts inactive. Juul also is pulling several flavored tobacco products, including mango, cucumber and fruit, from retail stores until sellers adopt a new age-verification system limiting buyers to 21 and older. Critics of […]
An illustration shows a man exhaling smoke from an electronic cigarette in Washington, DC on Oct. 2, 2018. 
EVA HAMBACH/AFP/Getty Images

FDA may seek to regulate menthol and e-cigarettes

Nov 12, 2018
Regulatory changes would face a process that could take years and face litigation.
 Menthol cigarettes are seen for sale on a shelf at a Quick Stop store on March 30, 2010 in Miami, Florida. 
Joe Raedle/Getty Images

For public good, not for profit.

Weather and trade tensions worry tobacco farmers

Oct 23, 2018
Farmers in North Carolina face losses from recent storms and Chinese tariffs.
A tobacco field in North Carolina. China is the largest consumer of the state’s tobacco.
Travis HEYING/AFP/Getty Images

Weather and trade tensions worry tobacco farmers

Oct 23, 2018
Farmers in North Carolina face losses from recent storms and Chinese tariffs.
A tobacco field in North Carolina. China is the largest consumer of the state’s tobacco.
Travis HEYING/AFP/Getty Images

CDC director resigns over investments

Jan 31, 2018
Dr. Brenda Fitzgerald resigned from her post as acting director of the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention. This came after a report in Politico which detailed a series of stock purchases made by Fitzgerald, including shares of tobacco companies. Politico reporter Sarah Karlin-Smith spoke with Marketplace host Amy Scott, and she said the conflict between […]