Tobacco company will pay to settle suit over advertising

R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. has agreed to end its Camel Farm marketing campaign and pay $150,000 to settle a lawsuit by Maryland, which had accused the tobacco giant of using cartoons and brand-name trinkets in advertising to target young consumers, the Maryland attorney general's office announced Wednesday. Maryland's regulator contended that the marketing campaign violated the 1998 Tobacco Master Settlement Agreement that states reached with major tobacco companies when it used cartoons and brand-name giveaways to promote cigarettes. Maryland was one of nine states that sued Reynolds in late 2007, and the first to settle. As part of that settlement, Reynolds also agreed not to distribute any marketing materials created for the campaign, the state regulator said.

- Eileen Ambrose

FDA wants drug companies to watch for abuse potential

The Food and Drug Administration is calling on pharmaceutical firms to give more attention to the potential for abuse of new drugs when subjecting them to pre-market testing. The agency this week released a draft of new voluntary guidelines to assist drug makers in figuring out which compounds should be placed under the Controlled Substances Act, which regulates the handling, record-keeping and dispensing of controlled substances. The guidelines urge researchers to look beyond traditional indicators such as whether a compound is addictive to other characteristics that could lead to abuse. Advances in science have created new properties in drugs that may include previously unrecognized abuse potential, according to the FDA.

- Tribune Newspapers

Mexico sees record 15.7% drop in money sent home

MEXICO CITY - Money sent home by Mexicans abroad plunged a record 15.7 percent in 2009 as migrants worldwide struggled to find work, the central bank reported Wednesday. Remittances - Mexico's No. 2 source of foreign income after oil exports - totaled $21.2 billion in 2009, compared with $25.1 billion in 2008, the bank said. Since the bank began tracking remittances in 1996, it has recorded just one other annual decline - a 3.6 percent decrease in 2008.

- Associated Press