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Randy
SFN Regular
USA
1990 Posts |
 Posted - 07/26/2001 : 20:25:20 [Permalink]
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"I'll tell you why I like the cigarette business. It costs a penny to make. Sell it for a dollar. It's addictive. And there's fantastic brand loyalty".
--Warren Buffet, once R.J. Reynold's largest shareholder.
"News and Events" will get you to the web-posting of the Mississippi Settlement in Tobacco Litigation.
Go thru the front door of the site here:
http://www.ago.state.ms.us/
The guy you see on the front page? - say howdy. He brought Mississippi's 1994 tobacco suit into Court and turned Big Tobacco into a
pile of quivering butts. Moore's angle of attack with this lawsuit helped pave the way to other state's class-actions to the quarter trillion settlement with
tobacco.
This link below of the charges is something else; the scope of it all.
Historic, comes to mind.
.....it's what's called "Playing hard ball".
I just pulled a few here from the link.......
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Tobacco Litigation
http://www.ago.state.ms.us/news-events/archived-news/tobacco.htm
Other Allegations
37. The defendants listed above, and/or their predecessors and successors in interest, did business in the State of Mississippi; made contracts to be
performed in whole or in part in Mississippi and/or manufactured, tested, sold, offered for sale, supplied or placed in the stream of commerce, or in
the course of business materially participated with others in so doing, cigarettes which the defendants knew to be defective, unreasonably dangerous
and hazardous, and which the defendants knew would be substantially certain to cause injury to the State and to persons within the State thereby
negligently and intentionally causing injury to persons within Mississippi and to the State, and as described herein, committed and continue to commit
tortious and other unlawful acts in the State of Mississippi.
38.....Most of the new smokers who replace the smokers who quit or die prematurely from smoking-related disease are children or teens. About 90% of
smokers born since 1935 started smoking before age 21 and almost 50% started before age 18.
39. The economic consequences of smoking cigarettes are equally as staggering. In May of 1993, the Office of Technology Assessment advised the
United States Congress that in 1990 smoking related illnesses cost United States taxpayers a total of approximately $68 Billion, broken down as
follows: $20.8 Billion in direct costs; $6.9 Billion in indirect costs for morbidity; $40.3 Billion indirect cost for mortality.
41.....The defendants have known for decades of the lethal dangers of smoking their cigarette products. By the late 1930's, based on published
research, the tobacco companies had notice of the potential health hazards presented by smoking cigarettes. In 1946 Tobacco Company chemists themselves reported concern for the health of smokers. A 1953 report by Dr. Ernst L. Wynder heralded to the scientific community, and to the Tobacco Companies, a definitive link between cigarette smoking and cancer.
44.....The participating tobacco companies also promised to cooperate closely with public health officials. They breached their promises thus made
to the public, including their promises made to the citizens of Mississippi.
45.....After thus beginning to lull the public into a false sense of security concerning smoking and health, the TIRC continued to act as a front
for tobacco industry interests. Despite the initial public statements and posturing, and the repeated assertions that they were committed to full
disclosure and vitally concerned, the TIRC did not make the public health a primary concern. .......
Under Count Three - Common Law Public Nuisance
90. By their wrongful conduct as alleged above, the defendants have intentionally and unreasonably interfered with the public's right to be free
from unwarranted injury, disease and sickness, and have caused damage to the public health, the public safety and the general welfare of the citizens of
Mississippi, and have thereby wrongfully caused the State to expend millions of dollars in support of the public health and welfare.
93. The defendants have, for many years, engaged in, encouraged, aided and abetted an intentional and unconscionable campaign to promote the
distribution and sale of cigarettes to children thereby creating successive generations of addicted customers who ultimately become the victims of
smoking-related illnesses. Such conduct is a violation of the laws of the State of Mississippi which prohibit the sale of cigarettes to minors,
imposes untold human suffering............
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a bit on so-called "light" cigarettes.........
http://www.fda.gov/bbs/topics/SPEECH/SPE00052.htm
Statement on Nicotine-Containing Cigarettes
by
David A. Kessler, M.D.
Commissioner of Food and Drugs
House Subcommittee on Health and the Environment
March 25, 1994
"It is a myth that people who smoke low nicotine cigarettes are necessarily going to get less nicotine than people who smoke high nicotine cigarettes.
There are several reasons for this. One reason is that there are differences between the smoking habits of a machine and a human. The way in which a
cigarette is smoked is probably the most important determinant of how much tar and nicotine is inhaled. Humans can compensate -- and do compensate --
when smoking low yield cigarettes, by altering puff volume, puff duration, inhalation frequency, depth of inhalation, and the number of cigarettes
smoked. As a result of these compensatory mechanisms, a low yield cigarette can actually result in a relatively high intake of nicotine.
Beyond the human compensatory mechanisms, several other factors under manufacturers' control contribute to a lowering of machine ratings. These
factors include the positioning of ventilation holes, how fast the cigarette paper burns, and the length of the filter paper overwrap."
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Other sites for education on the tobacco subject:
Secret Tobacco Documents News on the Web
...links, archives 1998
http://www.tobacco.org/News/98.01mangini.html
Collection of Tobacco History Sites:
http://smokingsides.com/docs/hist.html
Partial list of chemicals found in cigarettes
http://quitsmoking.about.com/library/weekly/aa042301a.htm
For myself, I smoked "light" cigarettes later on from 1975 until quitting
in 1997. I'd light up and inhale it down to my toes. Occasionally
would tear off the filter.
Light cigarettes? They don't exist. One compensates; has too, - being
addicted. Like all long-term smokers.
Besides, the industry was doing all it could to helped.
Most all started as children, like myself. Luckier for those around these
present
days with many more restrictions in place and anti-smoking programs in
schools.
But the tobacco industry thugs still are just around the corner.
-Randy
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