摘要：I have the privilege of talking with you today about some of the issues on the radar screens of tobaccogrowers and the tobacco industry. Keeping track of all of the moving targets on the already-full tobaccosector radar screen is about as confusing and overwhelming as grading tobacco seems to me.Legal and Political Issues. Legal battles continue to rage against cigarette manufacturers with the fateof the $145 billion Engle judgment in Florida still in limbo and more than 500 other lawsuits active.Also hanging in the legal balance is the suit against cigarette manufacturers filed by tobacco growersand quota holders, with more than 6,000 plaintiffs on board and motions to be heard in a matter of days.The impact of the change in administration is still an unknown, as the Department of Justice suit againstmanufacturers appears to have lost momentum, but FDA authority over manufactured tobacco productsand action on the upcoming President's Tobacco Commission recommendations are still on the radarscreen.
