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12 TOBACCO INTERNATIONAL JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2016 UNITED STATES US Tobacco Cooperative Opens Marketing Center in La Crosse, Virginia raleigh, n.c. – US Tobacco Cooperative Inc. (USTC) an industry leader in growing, processing and manufacturing flue-cured tobacco, will open a new marketing center in La Crosse, Va. for the 2016 growing season. The new USTC marketing center will service a large number of the c o o p e r a t i v e ' s f l u e - c u r e d t o b a c c o growers in both Virginia and North Carolina. The 161,250 square foot facility is located on 20-plus acres and is situated close to I-85 and US Hwy 58. USTC's La Crosse facility will "enhance the tobacco buying process for our growers and in addition provide efficient storage, improved processing and grading with an improved logistics flow...this modern facility will provide tobacco farmers an excellent location to sell their tobacco for years to come" a co-op statement read. " W e a r e e x t r e m e l y p l e a s e d t o celebrate the opening of this new location because it represents our continued focus on serving our growers," said US Tobacco Cooperative chief executive officer Stuart Thompson. "One of our goals is to operate first class marketing centers in areas that are convenient to the majority of our grower base and that are cost efficient. The La Crosse marketing center should accomplish both of those objectives. We look forward to becoming part of the La Crosse community while helping to strengthen the local business environment." USTC is a grower-owned marketing cooperative located in Raleigh, North Carolina. The cooperative produces US flue-cured tobacco grown by 850 member growers in Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina and V i r g i n i a . U S T C - m e m b e r g r o w e r tobacco is processed and sold as raw materials to cigarette manufacturers w o r l d w i d e . U S T C a l s o p r o d u c e s consumer products for the US market under the brand names Wildhorse, 1839, Shield, 1st Class, Ultra Buy and Traffic. For additional information on USTC visit www.usleaf.com. Report: US District Court of Appeals Vacates Ruling on FDA Menthol Advisory washington, d.c. – The US District Court of Appeals, the nation's second most powerful court, dealt what was described as a blow to tobacco when it vacated a lower court ruling in January that had blocked an influential Food and Drug Administration (FDA) report asserting that menthol makes cigarettes more addictive. In siding with the FDA over the alleged threat from mentho- lated cigarettes (tobacco products), the court paved the way for the adoption of the FDA advisory which is expected to inform new rules for products that con- tain the popular ingredient. As reported by Lydia Wheeler (The Hill, January 15), tobacco companies had challenged the FDA evidence suggesting that menthol made cigarettes more addicting. Tobacco companies and related interests sought to block the FDA advisory which will now certainly be used to regulate and limit the use of menthol. T h e F D A i s s u e d n o t i c e o f i t s deeming regulations in July 2013 and has been reviewing comments from the public as well as the tobacco and vapor industries. "Since the FDA has not yet issued a rule, Lorillard's prospective injury from that rule remains remote," wrote Judge Stephen Williams in the decision for the US Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit. As reported in The Hill, the case centered on a lawsuit that R.J. Reynolds T o b a c c o C o m p a n y a n d L o r i l l a r d Tobacco Company (pre-2015 tobacco merger) had brought against the FDA last year. In Reynolds' argument, the tobacco companies held that the FDA had appointed three members to the Tobacco Products Scientific Advisory Committee, all three of whom had unlawful conflicts of interest. That committee, comprising a 12-member panel, in turn drafted the report on the safety of menthol cigarettes. Tobacco i n t e r e s t s c l a i m e d t h a t t h e t h r e e contested committee members had been appointed by the FDA even though they had testified in lawsuits against tobacco product manufacturers and had "pending engagements to appear as TI DIGEST