Tobacco.org

• When is it safe to bin that file? 

In summary, the court decided that the conduct of BAT and its lawyers was not so bad and Mrs McCabe had not suffered such prejudice as to justify the extreme remedy of striking out the defence. The court also held that, even were the criticisms justified, a strike-out would have been disproportionate. Given our own Court of Appeal's well-known desire to give case- managing judges unimpeachable discretion in procedural matters, it is interesting to speculate just when this decision might be applied or how little circumstances would need to change for a draconian remedy to be upheld.

It would certainly be wrong for companies to treat this judgment as a green light to disregard sources of documentary evidence under the guise of good document management practice. Litigation lawyers have always sought to ensure that evidence emerges in the best possible form and this will not change. Equally, courts will be assiduous to ensure a level playing field. A corporate defendant survived this particular challenge but shortcomings in the game of document management will always risk sanctions in some form.

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• BRUEMMER: Breaking off is hard to do 

And yet, even after a year apart, I can't help but wish sometimes we could be together again.

Ultimately, it was the death of CBC broadcaster Peter Gzowski that convinced me to stop smoking, and I've been cigarette-free ever since. In body if not necessarily in mind.

For me, the affair started at the age of 12 . . .

The grieving, which began as soon as a serious promise to stop had been made, was part of the attitude that made me successful at quitting. In my mind, my friend was going to die, a way of life would be over, and once our final two weeks were up, there was nothing to do to bring him back. I accepted it with sadness, moved on and got over it. As with any loss, time heals.

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• 'Light Cigarettes More Harmful to Smokers Than Regular Cigarettes,' Landmark Suit Against Philip Morris Claims 

Smokers who smoked Marlboro Lights believing that they were lower in tar and nicotine, as was stated on cigarette packages and in millions of dollars of cigarette advertising, were victims of "the light lie" perpetrated deliberately by tobacco companies to encourage people to believe that light cigarettes were less harmful than their regular counterparts.

Attorneys for Philip Morris claim that the term "light" refers to lighter taste rather than less harmful health effects, contrary to the widespread use of the term in the marketplace to mean less harmful ingredients such as fat, calories, carbohydrates or sodium. The plaintiffs pointed to a number of consumer products such as yogurt, jams, cheese, salad dressing, cheese and similar products. Philip Morris knew that food and alcohol products labeled as light meant less bad or less harmful to most consumers making purchasing decisions and played on that implicit health representation, the plaintiffs allege.

The lawsuit is the first consumer fraud lawsuit against tobacco companies in the nation. . .

"Marlboro Lights have higher levels of almost all toxins than Marlboro Reds," Tillery commented. "We now know they had a 50 year strategy of denials, disinformation and outright lies. They reassured people about their health, saying if you can't quit smoking, smoke these light cigarettes because they're better for you and yet they were more harmful. This case is about people receiving an addictive product far more dangerous than orange juice or auto parts."

The trial is scheduled to continue for six or seven weeks. The plaintiffs made a motion early in the proceedings to waive their right to a jury trial, so Judge Nicholas Byron will preside over the trial and determine the outcome.

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• Court: Delaware inmate may sue over secondhand smoke 

A former Delaware prison inmate who complained that being forced to bunk with heavy smokers was cruel and unusual punishment can sue the state, a federal appeals court ruled.

Roger Atkinson, who served seven months at Delaware's Multi-Purpose Criminal Justice Facility, had offered sufficient evidence that prison officials disregarded his health concerns and subjected him to "unreasonably high" levels of smoke, the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled.

"Unlike individuals who voluntarily expose themselves to (secondhand smoke), a prisoner cannot simply walk out of his cell whenever he wishes," the court wrote. "When a susceptible prisoner is confined to a cell, a small and confined space, with a 'constant' smoker for an extended period of time, such symptoms may transform what would otherwise be a passing annoyance into a serious ongoing medical need."

The court's opinion, filed Tuesday, didn't directly address the legitimacy of Atkinson's claims, but upheld a lower court's decision that prison officials weren't entitled to immunity from the suit.

Prison officials, who had blamed Atkinson's discomfort on seasonal allergies, haven't decided whether to appeal, said Delaware Deputy Attorney General Gregory E. Smith. . .

Delaware's state prisons went smoke-free Nov. 1.

Since then, the state has been hit with a new round of suits from prisoners who say forcing them to quit is also unconstitutionally cruel, Smith said.

"We are damned if we do, damned if we don't," Smith said.

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Unlike individuals who voluntarily expose themselves to (secondhand smoke), a prisoner cannot simply walk out of his cell whenever he wishes. When a susceptible prisoner is confined to a cell, a small and confined space, with a 'constant' smoker for an extended period of time, such symptoms may transform what would otherwise be a passing annoyance into a serious ongoing medical need.
3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruling in the Atkinson case.

• Council OKs Dallas smoking ordinance 

Dallas City Council voted 10-3 Wednesday afternoon to ban smoking in restaurants and many other public places.

Restaurant owners told the council that the ban would drive business to nearby suburbs, but council members were not swayed.

Mayor Laura Miller, who pushed hard for the ban, said opponents were unable to produce any credible studies showing restaurant business will suffer.

"The scientific evidence is all on the side of the bans," she said. "Studies show over and over there is no economic harm."

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• Anti-tobacco lobby assails McLellan as she announces $5 million for ads 

OTTAWA (CP) - The anti-tobacco lobby denounced Health Minister Anne McLellan on Weedless Wednesday, saying she lacks the leadership of her predecessor in the fight against smoking.

The complaint came as McLellan announced at a downtown health clinic that the federal government will spend $5 million on anti-smoking ads. Smoking "is a health issue and the champion has to be the health minister," Physicians for a Smoke-Free Canada spokeswoman Cynthia Callard said.

"We know we had a champion with the last minister."

Callard noted that in the year since taking over the health portfolio from Allan Rock, McLellan cut $13 million from the anti-tobacco program.

Anti-smoking activists argue the government should spend much more on stop-smoking programs, given how much it profits from tobacco sales.

The minister acknowledged the cuts but denied backing down in the fight against smoking.

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• What Do Young Canadians Think about Cigarette Smoking? 

A new national public opinion survey of 745 young Canadians aged 15-24, fielded January 10-13, 2003 and released for National non-Smoking Week (Jan 19-25th, 2003), sheds some new light on how this highly influential group feels about cigarette smoking. The survey was conducted by Toronto-based youth consultancy - Youthography, in partnership with Canadian student information website - Schoolfinder.

Happily, the vast majority (97%) of all admitted smokers contacted in this survey "intend to quit smoking at some point in the future" while a full 50% of this same group were already in the process of "trying to quit smoking cigarettes". . .

Continuing on this health theme, this study shows that health risks associated with cigarette smoking are quite dominant in the minds of young Canadian smokers. When asked to offer what would "influence them THE MOST to stop smoking" the number one factor mentioned (by 50% of the admitted smokers contacted) was "health concerns".

The next largest factor was "price of the cigarettes" . .

This study has definitely shown that the cachet of smoking with young Canadians is decreasing in a number of significant ways. To wit: 97% of young Canadians surveyed think "it's right for Health Canada to advocate against smoking cigarettes while 72% of young Canadians either "somewhat" or "totally" agree with smoking bans in bars and restaurants (including 40% of admitted young smokers who think so). Evidently the messages regarding the societal cost of cigarette smoking are cutting through with young Canadians.

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• Breath of fresh air / Anti-tobacco lobbyist joins prime minister's strategy unit 

One of Britain's most outspoken anti-smoking campaigners is to take a job at the heart of government policy development as an adviser to the prime minister.

Clive Bates, 41, for the past five years the high-profile director of Action on Smoking and Health (Ash), leaves the charity in March. He will join the prime minister's strategy unit, based in the cabinet office, in May.

Bates, formerly a Greenpeace activist, will work as a team leader across a range of policy issues - but is unlikely to be involved in work on tobacco.

His move to Whitehall as a civil servant will surprise some, given his reputation as a vigorous lobbyist for the anti-tobacco cause. . .

His most important achievement at Ash, he believes, has been the charity's work on exposing the role of the tobacco industry in tobacco smuggling. He is also proud of the charity's role in holding ministers to account on their 1997 election promise to ban tobacco advertising - a promise finally met last year with the passing into law of the Tobacco Advertising and Promotion Act. . .

Simon Clark, Bates's opposite number at the pro-choice, pro-smoking group Forest, describes Bates's tenure at Ash as "a breath of fresh air" after the "antics" of his predecessors.

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• Health committee will seek second-hand smoking bills 

State Sen. Christopher Murphy (D-Southington), co-chair of the legislature's Public Health Committee, announced Tuesday that the committee would seek passage of two bills addressing the danger of second-hand smoke.

Murphy stood surrounded by more than fifteen legislators and state and local officials at the conference held at the Legislative Office Building.

The senator said that the first proposed bill would restore power to local municipalities to regulate smoking.

"A decade ago, the tobacco industry convinced the legislature to take away local authority to regulate smoking in public places, putting our children at risk from second-hand smoke," Murphy said. "This year, the legislature will right that wrong."

According to Murphy, the proposed legislation has 88 co-sponsors from both the House and the Senate.

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A decade ago, the tobacco industry convinced the legislature to take away local authority to regulate smoking in public places, putting our children at risk from second-hand smoke. . . This year, the legislature will right that wrong.
Connecticut State Sen. Christopher Murphy, co-chair of the legislature's Public Health Committee, announcing that the committee would seek passage of two smokefree bills, one of which would undo the state's preemption law.

• No smoke without ire 

HOSPITAL chiefs say they will do everything they can to stop pregnant women from smoking for the good of their health and that of their unborn child.

But health experts have expressed strong concerns.

An e-mail leaked to the Daily Post and written by a senior NHS adviser says smokers may just smoke more to compensate for the missing nicotine.

It adds: "Unless there is clear evidence that people do cut down as a result of using the product, then on safety and ethical grounds its use in pregnant women is strongly contradicated."

The report by regional NHS smoking cessation advisers, obtained by the Daily Post, says the focus on the effects of smoking in pregnancy on the health of the woman, unborn child and immediate family, which this trial at Liverpool Women's Hospital has brought about, is to be welcomed. . .

"Only 3pc of people stop smoking successfully when they rely on willpower alone "NicoBloc, however, offers preg-nant women a safe and natural solution should they be unable to quit through willpower alone.

"Research also demonstrates that, contrary to other opinion, smokers using NicoBloc on their cigarette filters do not draw harder to compensate for the lost level of nicotine."

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• Hospital lets pregnant women smoke 

A hospital is allowing pregnant women to carry on smoking as part of a medical trial.

Liverpool Women's Hospital is taking part in a trial of the American product NicoBloc.

Its manufacturer claims the fluid, which is added to the cigarettes' filters, stops 99% of tar and nicotine in cigarettes reaching the bloodstream

It is also backed by Fiona Castle who has campaigned against smoking since the lung cancer death of her entertainer husband Roy. . .

But anti-smoking campaigners have warned women could be putting their unborn children at risk.

ASH (Action on Smoking on Health) said there was no evidence that the product worked as well as it claimed.

The NHS has also refused to endorse

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We are alarmed by some of the claims about success rate that the company has made. . . I don't believe NicoBloc can stop all the harmful chemicals from reaching the body and women could be putting their foetuses at risk.
Amanda Sandford, research manager at ASH, on the NicoBloc clinical trial at Liverpool Women's Hospital.

NicoBloc is a simple, entirely safe, all-natural product and is a marvellous tool for pregnant mothers who wish to give up smoking.
Maria Leahy, NicoBloc's medical director.

• Bush Wants Disease Prevention in Budget 

President Bush will ask Congress for $125 million to help cities create programs to prevent disease before it happens.

The request, part of the president's 2004 budget request, builds on a program that Bush proposed last year. Because the 2003 budget is not yet in place, the "Healthy Communities" initiative has not yet been created. Last year, Bush asked for $25 million to get the program going.

Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson said Tuesday it is imperative that Americans eat healthier, exercise more and stop smoking. . .

Each year 1.7 million people die of chronic illnesses, he said.

"There's no bioterrorism attack that would ever be that devastating," he said.

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There's no bioterrorism attack that would ever be that devastating.
Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson, on the 1.7 million people who die of chronic diseases each year. The Bush administration is asking Congress for $125 million to help cities create programs to prevent disease before it happens.

• Suit in City Smoker's Death 

A Queens jury is being asked to decide if a 48-year-old waitress - who went from smoking two cigarettes a day as a teenager to two packs a day as an adult - died of lung cancer because she was addicted, or simply enjoyed her habit too much to quit.

Philip Morris, the company that made the cigarettes that Roseanne Inzerilla smoked, should be liable for her death in 1994, her family's attorney said in his opening statement yesterday in State Supreme Court in Jamaica. . .

The Inzerilla case is one of five tobacco lawsuits now before juries nationwide, the most ever at the same time, said Edward Sweda

Inzerilla, of Glendale, succumbed to a product the tobacco company manufacturer knew was addictive and dangerous, even as it engaged in a "public relations scheme" to reassure smokers, said the attorney, Stuart Finz.

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• Officials limit smoking in public 

With three exceptions, smoking will be banned in all public places in Montgomery beginning May 1.

After two-hours of discussion and public testimony from anti-smoking advocates and smoking ban opponents, the City Council voted 6-3 Tuesday to ban smoking in restaurants, bars, bowling alleys and all other public places.

Neither restaurant owners, who have argued against the smoking restrictions, nor anti-smoking activists are happy with the law.

"At least we've got 100 days to come up with another solution," said Johnny Sullivan, president of the Montgomery Restaurant Association.

"We would like a total ban," said Alice Murphy with the Council on Substance Abuse. "This didn't address the health issues of restaurant workers from 9 p.m. to 5 a.m." . .

Restaurant owners say the November rules would be unfair to them because their customers, who could have sat in their lounges and smoked, would be banned from smoking and could go to establishments with lounge liquor licenses where smoking would be legal.

A more equitable law, they said, would be to ban smoking in all public places, but the restaurant association members did not want that, either.

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• Grapevine-Colleyville students are snuffing out smoking 

"It's kind of unattractive. It doesn't look cool at all," he said recently. "I don't like the look of it - or the smell of it."

Ben is not alone. He's in the majority.

Increasingly, fewer kids on high school campuses across Texas - and in the Grapevine-Colleyville school district - are lighting up, according to a new survey released by Texas A&M University.

The Texas Commission on Alcohol and Drug Abuse school survey queries students across the state in grades four, five and seven through 12 on their use of cigarettes, smokeless tobacco, beer, wine, liquor, marijuana, inhalants, steroids and such other drugs as cocaine, crack, ecstasy and heroin. . .

It surveyed more than 238,149 students across the state.

According to the survey, tobacco use among Grapevine-Colleyville middle and high school students declined by 18 percentage points between 1998 and 2002.

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