Star Scientific (NASDAQ:STSI - news) announced today that, effective May 1, the company was beginning the removal of the descriptors ``light'' and ``ultra light'' on the labeling and packaging of the Vegas(TM) cigarette brand sold by its wholly owned subsidiary, Star Tobacco.
The Vegas ``100's'' brand style will be sold without descriptors as of May 1, and the company anticipates that by the end of the third quarter all other Vegas brand styles will have been phased into distribution for sale with all ``light'' and ``ultra light'' descriptors removed. This initiative was first evident in early 2001. Star began using the full back of the packaging of two Vegas(TM) brand styles to convey enhanced health warnings, including the message that ``lower tar and nicotine cigarettes are NOT safer cigarettes since they usually are smoked more intensely.''
In a letter sent by Paul L. Perito, the company's Chairman and President, to senior executives with the major tobacco companies, Star Scientific indicated that this decision was supported unanimously by their Board of Directors, and was in part a response to input and advice from the researchers and public health consultants who comprise the company's independent Scientific Advisory Board. That input also was the subject of a recent monograph published by the National Cancer Institute, Risks Associated with Smoking Cigarettes with Low Machine-Measured Yields of Tar and Nicotine. The monograph summarized the origins of ``light'' descriptors, which were developed by tobacco companies to distinguish brand styles with reduced tar and nicotine levels from others.
Star's letter to the tobacco companies points out that, based on the scientific evidence summarized in the monograph, descriptors like ``light'' and ``ultra light'' may well have led consumers to assume that such cigarettes are ``safer'' than others. Since the company has consistently reiterated that there is no such thing as a safe cigarette, and since Star is committed to candor in its communication with adult tobacco users, the company believes the decision to begin the removal of these descriptors relates directly to its core mission.
Paul L. Perito, Star Chariman and President, noted: ``We first articulated the company's position on tobacco product packaging and labeling in October 2000, when Star introduced into limited test markets Advance®, the first premium cigarette to use 100% low-TSNA tobacco and a carbon/acetate filter designed to eliminate some other toxins found in cigarette smoke. The full back of the Advance package was devoted to health warning content that went beyond what was required by the Surgeon General, and also affixed a fold-out ''onsert`` strip that gave purchasers additional information about the product content, comparisons with toxin levels among the leading ''light`` brands, and additional information on cigarette smoking and health risk.
``In 2001, when Star introduced three new smokeless tobacco products in test markets, the company followed the same course in packaging and labeling. Stonewall(TM) moist snuff, introduced on September 28, uses the full bottom of the puck to communicate health warnings to adult purchasers that go beyond language contained on any other conventional snuff product. Moreover, the Stonewall(TM) label, as well as the package for Ariva(TM) (powdered compressed cigalett(TM) bits introduced in test markets in November 2001 for use by adult tobacco users when they cannot, or choose not, to smoke), informs adult consumers that 'all tobacco products, including this product contain nicotine, an addictive substance,' and 'Quitting or Not Starting is your best option.' We will continue to reiterate that adult tobacco users have the right to fair, balanced and honest information that they can use to make informed choices about the tobacco products they may choose to consume. However, we do not, and will not, make any health or therapeutic claims about any of these products until we have peer-reviewed science to support any such claims.
``Our decision with respect to the cigarette brand labeling, like our efforts with the development of the Advance® product and packaging and the development of very low-TSNA Stonewall(TM) and Ariva(TM), reflect our continuing goal to fundamentally change the tobacco marketplace.''
This press release contains certain forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. The Company has tried, whenever possible, to identify these forward-looking statements using words such as ``anticipates'', ``believes'', ``estimates'', ``expects'', ``plans'', ``intends'' and similar expressions. These statements reflect the Company's current beliefs and are based upon information currently available to it. Accordingly, such forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which could cause the Company's actual results, performance or achievements to differ materially from those expressed in, or implied by, such statements. These risks, uncertainties and contingencies include, without limitation, the challenges inherent in new product development initiatives particularly in the smokeless tobacco area, the uncertainties inherent in the progress of scientific research, the Company's ability to raise the capital necessary to grow its business, potential disputes concerning the Company's intellectual property, risks associated with litigation regarding such intellectual property, potential delays in obtaining any necessary government approvals of the Company's low-TSNA tobacco products, market acceptance of the Company's proposed new smokeless tobacco products, competition from companies with greater resources than the Company, the Company's decision not to join the Master Settlement Agreement (``MSA'') and its decision to challenge the constitutionality of the MSA, the effect of state statutes adopted under the MSA and any subsequent modification of the MSA, the Company's dependence on key employees and on its strategic relationships with Brown & Williamson Tobacco Corporation. The impact of potential litigation, if initiated against or by individual states that have adopted the MSA, could be materially adverse to the Company.
See additional discussion under ``Factors That May Affect Future Results'' in the Company's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2001, and other factors detailed from time to time in the Company's other filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, available at www.sec.gov. The Company undertakes no obligation to update or advise upon any such forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances after the date of this press release or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events.
About Star Scientific
Star Scientific is a technology-oriented tobacco company with a toxin reduction mission. It is engaged in the development of tobacco products that deliver fewer carcinogenic toxins (principally tobacco specific nitrosamines, or TSNAs), through the utilization of the innovative StarCured(TM) tobacco curing technology, and in sublicensing that technology to others. Star Scientific has a Corporate and Sales Office in Chester, VA, an Executive, Scientific & Regulatory Affairs office in Bethesda, MD, and manufacturing and processing facilities in Petersburg and Chase City, VA.