FDA v. Brown & Williamson Tobacco Corp., 529 U.S. 120, 53 (2000)

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172

FDA v. BROWN & WILLIAMSON TOBACCO CORP.

Breyer, J., dissenting

sweet.' " Kluger, Ashes to Ashes, at 77-78. The advertisements of R J Reynolds (RJR) emphasized mood stability by depicting a pilot remarking that " 'It Takes Steady Nerves to Fly the Mail at Night . . . . That's why I smoke Camels. And I smoke plenty!' " Id., at 86. RJR also advertised the stimulating quality of cigarettes, stating in one instance that " 'You get a Lift with a Camel,' " and, in another, that Camels are " 'A Harmless Restoration of the Flow of Natural Body Energy.' " Id., at 87. And claims of medical proof of mildness (and of other beneficial effects) once were commonplace. See, e. g., id., at 93 (Brown & Williamson advertised Kool-brand mentholated cigarettes as "a tonic to hot, tired throats"); id., at 101, 131 (Philip Morris contended that " '[r]ecognized laboratory tests have conclusively proven the advantage of Phillip [sic] Morris' "); id., at 88 (RJR proclaimed " 'For Digestion's sake, smoke Camels! . . . Camels make mealtime more pleasant—digestion is stimulated—alkalinity increased' "). Although in recent decades cigarette manufacturers have stopped making express health claims in their advertising, consumers have come to understand what the companies no longer need to express—that through chemical action cigarettes stabilize mood, sedate, stimulate, and help suppress appetite.

Second, even though the companies refused to acknowledge publicly (until only very recently) that the nicotine in cigarettes has chemically induced, and habit-forming, effects, see, e. g., Regulation of Tobacco Products (Part 1): Hearings before the House Subcommittee on Health and the Environment, 103d Cong., 2d Sess., 628 (1994) (hereinafter 1994 Hearings) (heads of seven major tobacco companies testified under oath that they believed "nicotine is not addictive" (emphasis added)), the FDA recently has gained access to solid, documentary evidence proving that cigarette manufacturers have long known tobacco produces these effects within the body through the metabolizing of chemicals, and that they

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