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The Food and Drug Administration said Tuesday it is responding to an uptick in nicotine poisonings reported by emergency rooms and poison centers nationwide, many involving infants and children. The agency said in an online posting it is considering whether "it would be appropriate for the protection of the public health to warn the public about the dangers or nicotine exposure" and "require that some tobacco products be sold in child-resistant packaging." (6/30)

Anthem, one of the nation’s largest health insurers, wants its members to stop smoking. ... But Anthem’s executive vice president, Wayne S. DeVeydt, serves on the board of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, which is engaged in a worldwide campaign to block antismoking laws. These include taxes on cigarettes in the Philippines, graphic health warnings on cigarette packs in Jamaica and Nepal, a plan to prohibit the display of cigarettes by retailers in Uruguay and restrictions on smoking in public spaces in Moldova. The chamber’s global opposition to antismoking measures, reported by The New York Times on Tuesday, poses a challenge for many of the members of the organization, particularly hospitals and health insurers. (Hakim, 7/1)