This is a challenge by tobacco companies alleging that a Massachusetts statute was unconstitutional when it required tobacco companies to disclose for each brand the identity of each added ingredient. The lower court held that the statute violated the Fifth and Fourteenth amendments of the United States Constitution by effecting an uncompensated taking, violating the Due Process Clause and the Commerce Clause. The First Circuit reversed on the basis that there was no less burdensome alternative and the disclosure will put consumers in a better position to know if their brand contains harmful additives, and to assess the health risks involved.
Tobacco companies or front groups may challenge any legislative or regulatory measure that affects their business interests. Unlike public interest litigation, these cases seek to weaken health measures. These cases frequently involve the industry proceeding against the government. For example, a group of restaurant owners challenging a smoke free law as unconstitutional.
Measures to regulate the marketing on tobacco packages. This includes both bans on false, misleading, deceptive packaging, as well as required health warnings on packaging.
(See FCTC Art. 11)
A violation of the right to carry on trade, business, or profession of a person’s choice. This right may also be called the right to free enterprise or economic freedom. The industry may argue that a business should be able to conduct its business without government regulation, including whether or not to be smoke free.
A violation of the right to procedural fairness. For example, a party may claim that a government agency did not consult with public or stakeholders when issuing regulations.
A violation of property rights, sometimes in the form of an expropriation or a taking by the government. The tobacco industry may argue that regulations amount to a taking of property rights because they prevent the use of intellectual property such as trademarks.
Type of Tobacco Product
None
Limitations regarding the use of quotes The quotes provided here reflect statements from a specific decision. Accordingly, the International Legal Consortium (ILC) cannot guarantee that an appellate court has not reversed a lower court decision which may influence the applicability or influence of a given quote. All quotes have been selected based on the subjective evaluations undertaken by the ILC meaning that quotes provided here may not accurately or comprehensively represent a given court’s opinion or conclusion, as such quotes may have originally appeared alongside other negative opinions or accompanying facts. Further, some quotes are derived from unofficial English translations, which may alter their original meaning. We emphasize the need to review the original decision and related decisions before authoritatively relying on quotes. Using quotes provided here should not be construed as legal advice and is not intended to be a substitute for legal counsel on any subject matter in any jurisdiction. Please see the full limitations at https://www.tobaccocontrollaws.org/about.
"It is quite true, as the district court said, that "loss of trade secrets is not central to the achievement of the purpose of the statute," but informing consumers of the potentially harmful ingredients to which they would be exposed by smoking a particular brand of cigarettes surely is. Thus, the aggregate reporting required by the federal schemes, lumping together some 700 ingredients without indication which are found in which brand, would certainly not achieve "the hoped-for benefit" of the statute. This is so even though, as the court explained, "consumers already have the ability to compare brands on the basis of the most notoriously harmful aspects of every brand, such as nicotine and tar." The aim of the Disclosure Act is educating Massachusetts consumers and helping them to choose less harmful brands, taking into account not only advertised nicotine and tar ratings but also the synergistic effects of various additives, such as those enhancing the delivery of "free" nicotine to the consumer (thus making deceptive the "light" and "ultra light" labels on many brands). Without brand-specific ingredient lists, researchers do not know which combinations to test and are left to guess which additives might co-exist in certain formulas on the market; like the Manufacturers' competitors, they cannot reverse engineer a formula and thus any health research they conduct is difficult and at best inexact. Brand-specific information in order of magnitude would enable DPH to use its resources most efficiently by targeting the most popular brands, focusing on those ingredients present in the highest quantity to serve the Act's purpose of providing information to consumers about the health risks of particular brands."
Limitations regarding the use of quotes The quotes provided here reflect statements from a specific decision. Accordingly, the International Legal Consortium (ILC) cannot guarantee that an appellate court has not reversed a lower court decision which may influence the applicability or influence of a given quote. All quotes have been selected based on the subjective evaluations undertaken by the ILC meaning that quotes provided here may not accurately or comprehensively represent a given court’s opinion or conclusion, as such quotes may have originally appeared alongside other negative opinions or accompanying facts. Further, some quotes are derived from unofficial English translations, which may alter their original meaning. We emphasize the need to review the original decision and related decisions before authoritatively relying on quotes. Using quotes provided here should not be construed as legal advice and is not intended to be a substitute for legal counsel on any subject matter in any jurisdiction. Please see the full limitations at https://www.tobaccocontrollaws.org/about.
This is a challenge by tobacco companies alleging that a Massachusetts statute was unconstitutional when it required tobacco companies to disclose for each brand the identity of each added ingredient. The lower court held that the statute violated the Fifth and Fourteenth amendments of the United States Constitution by effecting an uncompensated taking, violating the Due Process Clause and the Commerce Clause. The First Circuit reversed on the basis that there was no less burdensome alternative and the disclosure will put consumers in a better position to know if their brand contains harmful additives, and to assess the health risks involved.