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[link widoczny dla zalogowanych] Fights to Snuff Menthol Ban--1
(Reference [link widoczny dla zalogowanych]) Lorillard Inc., maker of the U.S.'s leading menthol cigarette brand, is engaged in a fierce battle to prevent the Food and Drug Administration from banning a product that accounts for roughly 90% of its sales.
Among the company's tactics: buying up a host of menthol-bashing Internet domain names, including [link widoczny dla zalogowanych] [link widoczny dla zalogowanych].
[link widoczny dla zalogowanych], Keeping those names out of the hands of critics is just one part of Lorillard's multimedia campaign to thwart a possible ban. The fight's next round is scheduled for next week, when a special FDA tobacco advisory committee is scheduled to meet to review data regarding menthol products. In March, the panel will recommend whether to extinguish menthol cigarettes altogether―including Lorillard's top-selling Newport brand [link widoczny dla zalogowanych].
[link widoczny dla zalogowanych]s, Some antismoking groups are pressing for the variety to be taken off shelves. They say menthol is particularly enticing to blacks, who have long been a target of menthol marketing campaigns, and to adolescent smokers.
[link widoczny dla zalogowanych], Lorillard, the nation's third-largest cigarette producer, is making preemptive strikes against any possible ban. Companies frequently mount aggressive public-relations and lobbying offensives when under regulatory threat. But the Greensboro, N.C., company's efforts to stave off a ban are more urgent than usual. Given its dependence on Newport, it faces a potential "doomsday scenario if menthol gets banned and they can't keep a majority of their customers," says Philip Gorham, an analyst with Morningstar Inc [link widoczny dla zalogowanych].
[link widoczny dla zalogowanych], In addition to arguing that menthols are no more addictive than regular cigarettes, the company is courting allies, including some African-American groups, to help make its case. Through its public-relations network, Lorillard has enlisted a consultant to get prominent blacks to espouse an anti-ban message in the media [link widoczny dla zalogowanych].
Newport is especially popular with African-American smokers, about 80% of whom prefer menthol cigarettes, according to U.S.-government survey data.
Lorillard says it has helped amplify the views of outside groups by paying to circulate their press releases on PR Newswire, a major news distribution outlet. The company also uses Twitter and Facebook to link to news articles on the issue.(Reference [link widoczny dla zalogowanych])