US TOBACCO giant R J Reynolds has been fined almost $15-million for illegally handing out fee packets of cigarettes at events attended by children, legal officials said on Thursday.
The fine meted out by the top legal official in the traditionally anti-smoking state of California is believed to be the largest awarded against a firm accused of violating tobacco laws.
State Attorney-General Bill Lockyer said RJ Reynolds would cough up $14,8-million after a Los Angeles judge this week ruled that it had breached a law banning the handing out of free cigarette samples on public property.
”Marketing ploys designed to hook children on cigarettes are illegal and won’t be tolerated in California,” Lockyer said.
”This case and others brought by my office should send a strong warning to tobacco product manufacturers that California will vigorously enforce laws to control tobacco sales and distribution,” he added.
RJ Reynolds immediately said it would appeal the ruling.
?Reynolds Tobacco continues to believe that our operations did not, in any way, violate the state law,” the firm’s deputy general counsel Guy Blynn said.
He said the California law under which the tobacco giant was convicted specifically exempted public areas where probate functions were being held and where minors were denied access by security or police officers.
People under the age of 21 are not allowed to buy or be offered tobacco products in California, where smoking in public places is strictly barred.
RJ Reynolds said its promotional drives were conducted from areas to which minors were barred and that the state was aware of its activities and even accepted tax revenues from the give-away samples.
The attorney general’s office said that RJ Reynolds handed out 100 000 packets of free cigarettes at events such as street fairs and car races where youngsters were present. ? Sapa-AFP