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“There is no good reason why a switch from tobacco products to less harmful nicotine delivery systems should not be encouraged.†So stated a 1991 Lancet Editorial, yet 16 years later cigarettes continue to dominate the nicotine-delivery system market, despite their clear health risks. . . .
Britton, Edwards, and the other members of the RCP's Tobacco Advisory Group advocate a courageous approach to nicotine addiction. Greater availability of medicinal nicotine, and perhaps even of low-toxicity smokeless products, along with increasing restrictions on smoked tobacco, is likely to reduce tobacco-related mortality and morbidity. Given the known hazards of smoked tobacco, and the numbers of people who smoke, innovative thinking is needed. We support tobacco harm reduction alongside rigorously applied tobacco control policies.
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U.S. District Judge Gladys Kessler said that, whether British American Tobacco could be held liable as part of the largest civil racketeering case in U.S. history is a question that should be aired during the trial of the case scheduled to start in September. . . .
Kessler was not persuaded by British American Tobacco's argument for dismissal. The company contended that charges against it should be dismissed before trial because it had only a tiny share of the U.S. market and because there is no evidence it participated in any industry conspiracy.
Joe Battaglia has lost his small-claims court case against Imperial Tobacco. An Ontario smoker who got heart disease despite switching to ''mild'' cigarettes was unsuccessful Tuesday in claiming damages from Canada's largest tobacco company.
A small-claims court judge ruled 59-year-old Joe Battaglia had only himself to blame for his smoking habit, and failed to find Imperial Tobacco responsible.
''The plaintiff is the only one who has control over how he smokes,'' Justice Pamela Thomson said in her decision. ''The only thing he could have done was quit.''
Battaglia had alleged that the Matinee Extra Mild cigarettes he smoked for six years, after smoking ''stronger'' brands for decades, were secretly designed to deliver more nicotine and toxins than the packages indicated. . .
In her decision, Thomson said that while the levels printed on packages are misleading, only a smoker can control how much nicotine and tar is inhaled.
She said Imperial Tobacco didn't have a duty to warn Battaglia the package levels weren't a reflection of what he was inhaling.
''Knowing that these numbers are non-human doesn't help the plaintiff make a better choice,'' Thomson said.
The plaintiff is the only one who has control over how he smokes. . . The only thing he could have done was quit. Canadian small claims court Justice Pamela Thomson said in her decision exonerating Imperial Tobacco in the Battaglia case. <I>Smoker loses court fight against cigarette giant</I>
A U.S. expert on substance abuse testifying for Imperial Tobacco Canada says cigarettes are not truly addictive and anyone can quit if they're motivated.
The word addiction is no longer employed in a medical context because it's overused and applied in society to such behaviour as eating chocolates and watching bad movies, testified Dr. Harvey Hammer, chair of the department of psychiatry at Morristown Memorial Hospital in New Jersey.
``The implication is the person has no choice, that a person has no free will,'' Hammer told a North York small claims court yesterday. . .
Quitting smoking more like giving up caffeine than drugs, expert testifies
Hammer, who confirmed he is being paid his usual rate of $7,500 (U.S.) a day over two days for attending and testifying, said the term substance dependency is preferable to addiction.
People too often say ``I am addicted and I can't do anything about it and I find that frankly alarming. We are somehow suggesting that to people when we call it addiction,'' he said. . .
Hammer testified all the patients he treats who are genuinely motivated to quit have been successful.
He said people who want to recover from a substance dependency must start by saying, `` `I am responsible for my own behaviour.' That's a basic psychological concept.''
British American Tobacco resisted efforts by its Canadian subsidiary, Imasco, to develop a safer cigarette in the 1980s, Imasco's former chief executive testified yesterday.
Purdy Crawford said although the Imasco board was very keen to develop the safer cigarette, it was disappointed it wasn't able to convince its minority owner, British American Tobacco (BAT) of London, to lend its support and expertise to the project.
Crawford told a North York small claims court yesterday that Jean Louis Mercier, then chief executive of Imasco-owned Imperial Tobacco Canada Ltd., ``was frustrated in dealing with his contemporaries at BAT.''
``He was crestfallen, as I recall.'' . .
Crawford told Battaglia's lawyer, Doug Lennox, that he didn't order anyone at Imperial Tobacco to inform Health Canada about research pointing to a possibly safer cigarette. As head of Imasco, he had no day-to-day control of the subsidiary and it wasn't his style to give it orders, he said.
A former tobacco executive was back in court Monday for the start of his David-and-Goliath trial against cigarette giant Imperial Tobacco that alleges mild cigarettes are deceptively dangerous.
Joseph Battaglia, 59, alleges that Imperial misled the public and failed to warn smokers about the risks of so-called mild cigarettes. Battaglia filed his suit in small claims court three years ago because proceedings there are generally quick and inexpensive.
"Joe can't afford to sue big tobacco, nobody can," said Douglas Lennox, a lawyer with Toronto's Rochon Geneva who stepped in to represent Battaglia free of charge after the case had dragged on for two years.
Battaglia is seeking $6,000 in damages, the maximum allowable in small claims court. He also wants Imperial to be honest about the risk of its product and "devote considerable resources to developing safer cigarettes." . .
Neil Collishaw, research director for Physicians for a Smoke-free Canada, told court that two factors make Imperial's Matinee Extra Mild cigarette's deceivingly dangerous.
The package claims that Battaglia's cigarette of choice contains 0.4 milligrams of nicotine, and lab tests confirm this amount. But the suit alleges that the amount a smoker actually gets is six times higher than that.