Judge Bars Disclosure of Cigarettes’ Ingredients

A federal judge in Boston on Wednesday barred Massachusetts from enforcing its tobacco ingredient disclosure law, handing tobacco makers a partial, if temporary, victory.

But U.S. District Judge George O’Toole also ordered the companies to comply with part of the law that requires a new method of determining the nicotine content of cigarettes.

“Obviously, it’s disappointing to Massachusetts that its own state public health department cannot get a list of what is the leading cause of death in the state,” Assistant Atty. Gen. Thomas Green said.

Philip Morris Cos., RJ Reynolds Tobacco Co., Brown & Williamson Tobacco Corp., Lorillard Tobacco Co. and US Tobacco Co. filed suit last winter to block the disclosure of their various brands’ ingredients, saying they would be revealing trade secrets.

Liggett Group, a unit of Bennett LeBow’s Brooke Group Ltd., last month began to list the ingredients of some of its brands on cigarette cartons.

The state law, which was to have gone into effect Monday, requires brand-specific information with ingredients listed by “weight, measure or numerical count” to be filed with the state’s Department of Public Health. The department could then make the information available to the public.

O’Toole’s order freezes the parties’ position on the disclosure of ingredients until a trial, further argument or a final judgment is issued.