Tobacco.org

• Late cowboy's ex-wife sues tobacco co. 

ALBION, Idaho -- The ex-wife of a rodeo cowboy who died of throat cancer has sued a chewing tobacco company, claiming that it caused his death by getting him hooked on its product.

Susan Smith contends U.S. Smokeless Tobacco Co. targets the sport of rodeo, enticing aspiring cowboys to take up the habit the way her ex-husband did when he was 13.

Kent Cooper, a 13-time qualifier for the National Finals Rodeo in saddle bronc riding, used Copenhagen chewing tobacco for nearly 30 years, most of which he spent on the pro rodeo circuit. The Albion resident dropped the habit about four years before he died in 2002, at age 47.

Smith filed the federal lawsuit this month in Boise on behalf of the couple's 9-year-old son. The suit claims U.S. Smokeless, the nation's largest maker of smokeless tobacco, falsely stated for years that its product was not addictive and that there was no proof it harmed users.

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