Tobacco politics
Encyclopedia
Tobacco politics refers to the politics
surrounding the use and distribution of tobacco
.
Major big tobacco
lobbying companies include Philip Morris
, R. J. Reynolds Tobacco Company, Brown & Williamson
Tobacco Corp. and Lorillard Tobacco Co. The tobacco lobby lost a chunk of its support when the U.S. National Association of Attorneys General
(NAAG) filed charges against the Tobacco Institute
, a tobacco industry advocacy group.
This resulted in the Master Settlement Agreement, which forced the organization to disband and place all records on a website.
s brought against various tobacco
manufacturers, attempting to hold them responsible for wrongful death, injury, or medical expenses related to cigarette
smoking and other tobacco use. Cases have been brought both by individual plaintiff
s and by government officials, including U.S. State Attorney General
. Punitive damages
for the plaintiff have often been awarded as a result of a successful litigation. However, the vast majority of court decisions have been in favor of the defendant tobacco companies.
The first major study that showed the causal link between smoking and lung cancer was published in a study done by Sir Richard Doll
in 1950..
Design defects : The design of tobacco products defectively causes adverse health effects.
Strict liability : The strict liability of the product.
Product liability : The liability of the product lies on the manufacturer.
Depriving of health hazards information : There is an ongoing civil court case in Finland, where three plaintiffs have sued tobacco companies on the basis that they marketed "light cigarettes" as non-hazardous to health, a claim the plaintiffs initially believed, before contracting serious lung diseases. The Helsinki district court rejected the claim in 2008, and the appeals court considers the appeal in 2010. "Light cigarettes" are actually more hazardous to health than regular cigarettes — they contain less nicotine, so that the smokers tend smoke more of them. "Light cigarettes" were officially recommended against in 1986 and banned in 2002 in the European Union. Other claims in the case are marketing to minors, purposefully aggravating nicotine dependency in smokers and denial of the hazards of passive smoking. The defendant Amer claims that the hazards of smoking have sufficiently been discussed publicly since the 1950s.
: Volenti non fit injuria, or "to a willing person, no injury is done," is a common law doctrine which means that someone willingly places themselves in a position where they are negatively affected by tobacco consumption.
Contributory negligence
: Contributory negligence is a common law defense to a claim based on negligence, that before the cases, the adverse affects were unknown. This has been one of the commonly used defences that defendants have used. Most of them will assert that it was the plaintiff himself that has contributed to his own injury as he has prior knowledge of the harm associated with tobacco smoking.
Politics
Politics is a process by which groups of people make collective decisions. The term is generally applied to the art or science of running governmental or state affairs, including behavior within civil governments, but also applies to institutions, fields, and special interest groups such as the...
surrounding the use and distribution of tobacco
Tobacco
Tobacco is an agricultural product processed from the leaves of plants in the genus Nicotiana. It can be consumed, used as a pesticide and, in the form of nicotine tartrate, used in some medicines...
.
Taxation
Tobacco has been taxed by state governments in the United States for decades . The cumulative revenue of US tobacco taxation was $14,974,713,000 in 2006, creating a major source of income for government.Lobby
The tobacco lobby gives money to politicians to vote in favor of deregulating tobacco. It is estimated that the United States tobacco lobby spends an average of $106,415 each day legislature meets.Major big tobacco
Big Tobacco
Big Tobacco is a pejorative term often applied to the tobacco industry in general, or more particularly to the "big three" tobacco corporations in the United States: Philip Morris , Reynolds American and Lorillard...
lobbying companies include Philip Morris
Altria Group
Altria Group, Inc. is based in Henrico County, Virginia, and is the parent company of Philip Morris USA, John Middleton, Inc., U.S. Smokeless Tobacco Company, Inc., Philip Morris Capital Corporation, and Chateau Ste. Michelle Wine Estates. It is one of the world's largest tobacco corporations...
, R. J. Reynolds Tobacco Company, Brown & Williamson
Brown & Williamson
Brown & Williamson was an American tobacco company and subsidiary of the giant British American Tobacco, that produced several popular cigarette brands. It became infamous as the focus of investigations for chemically enhancing the addictiveness of cigarettes...
Tobacco Corp. and Lorillard Tobacco Co. The tobacco lobby lost a chunk of its support when the U.S. National Association of Attorneys General
National Association of Attorneys General
The National Association of Attorneys General is an organization of 56 state and territorial attorneys general in the United States...
(NAAG) filed charges against the Tobacco Institute
Tobacco Institute
The Tobacco Institute, Inc. was a United States tobacco industry trade group, founded in 1958 by the American tobacco industry.It was dissolved in 1998 as part of the Tobacco Master Settlement Agreement.-Founding:...
, a tobacco industry advocacy group.
This resulted in the Master Settlement Agreement, which forced the organization to disband and place all records on a website.
Litigation
The lawsuitLawsuit
A lawsuit or "suit in law" is a civil action brought in a court of law in which a plaintiff, a party who claims to have incurred loss as a result of a defendant's actions, demands a legal or equitable remedy. The defendant is required to respond to the plaintiff's complaint...
s brought against various tobacco
Tobacco
Tobacco is an agricultural product processed from the leaves of plants in the genus Nicotiana. It can be consumed, used as a pesticide and, in the form of nicotine tartrate, used in some medicines...
manufacturers, attempting to hold them responsible for wrongful death, injury, or medical expenses related to cigarette
Cigarette
A cigarette is a small roll of finely cut tobacco leaves wrapped in a cylinder of thin paper for smoking. The cigarette is ignited at one end and allowed to smoulder; its smoke is inhaled from the other end, which is held in or to the mouth and in some cases a cigarette holder may be used as well...
smoking and other tobacco use. Cases have been brought both by individual plaintiff
Plaintiff
A plaintiff , also known as a claimant or complainant, is the term used in some jurisdictions for the party who initiates a lawsuit before a court...
s and by government officials, including U.S. State Attorney General
Attorney General
In most common law jurisdictions, the attorney general, or attorney-general, is the main legal advisor to the government, and in some jurisdictions he or she may also have executive responsibility for law enforcement or responsibility for public prosecutions.The term is used to refer to any person...
. Punitive damages
Damages
In law, damages is an award, typically of money, to be paid to a person as compensation for loss or injury; grammatically, it is a singular noun, not plural.- Compensatory damages :...
for the plaintiff have often been awarded as a result of a successful litigation. However, the vast majority of court decisions have been in favor of the defendant tobacco companies.
History
There has been an increased number of deaths related to tobacco smoking in the past decades. People are more aware of the risks and dangers that can be associated with tobacco smoking. People have died as a result of lung cancer from tobacco smoking and were often unable to prove that it was the cigarettes of the tobacco manufacturer that caused the person's death. Tobacco litigation is not new but has involved thousands of people in class-actions as well as individual private lawsuits since the mid-20th Century. There was an explosion of tobacco litigations in the mid 1990s, worldwide, but in the United States in particular.The first major study that showed the causal link between smoking and lung cancer was published in a study done by Sir Richard Doll
Richard Doll
Sir William Richard Shaboe Doll CH OBE FRS was a British physiologist who became the foremost epidemiologist of the 20th century, turning the subject into a rigorous science. He was a pioneer in research linking smoking to health problems...
in 1950..
Significant cases
- March 2001: The Supreme Court affirmed the Circuit Court's ruling that the Food and Drug AdministrationFood and Drug AdministrationThe Food and Drug Administration is an agency of the United States Department of Health and Human Services, one of the United States federal executive departments...
could not class tobacco as a pharmaceutical, so could not control its production through the Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act. (FDA v. Brown & Williamson Tobacco Corp.FDA v. Brown & Williamson Tobacco Corp.FDA v. Brown & Williamson Tobacco Corp., is an important case in the development of American administrative law.-Legal principle:The scope of authority held by an agency is determined by the agency's organic statute...
) - June 2002: A District Court in Kansas awarded $15 million in punitive damages against R.J. Reynolds Tobacco after calling the company's conduct "highly blameworthy and deserving of significant punishment." (David Burton vs. R.J. Reynold's Tobacco)
- June 2002: A Miami jury held three cigarette companies liable for $37.5 million in a lawsuit involving an ex–smoker who lost his tongue to tobacco–related oral cancer. (Lukacs vs. Philip Morris)
- October 2002: A Los Angeles jury issued $28 billion in punitive damages against Philip Morris. This was later reduced to $28 million. (Betty Bullock vs. Philip Morris)
- 2004: A New York jury issued $20 million to the wife of a long-term smoker who died of lung cancer at the age of 57. This was the first time that a New York court had held a tobacco company liable for an individual smoker's death. (Gladys Frankson vs. Brown and Williams Tobacco Corp)
- Altria Group v. GoodAltria Group v. GoodIn Altria Group v. Good, 555 U.S. 70 , the United States Supreme Court held that a state law prohibiting deceptive tobacco advertising was not preempted by a federal law regulating cigarette advertising.-Facts:...
- Cipollone v. Liggett Group, Inc.Cipollone v. Liggett Group, Inc.Cipollone v. Liggett Group, Inc., , was a United States Supreme Court case. In a split opinion, the court held that the Surgeon General's warning did not preclude suit by smokers against tobacco companies on several claims...
- Imperial Tobacco v. British ColumbiaImperial Tobacco v. British ColumbiaBritish Columbia v. Imperial Tobacco Canada Ltd., [2005] 2 S.C.R. 473, 2005 SCC 49, is a decision of the Supreme Court of Canada where the Court found that the provincial Tobacco Damages and Health Care Costs Recovery Act, which allowed the government to sue tobacco companies, was constitutionally...
- Philip Morris USA v. WilliamsPhilip Morris USA v. WilliamsPhilip Morris USA v. Williams, 549 U.S. 346 , was a decision by the Supreme Court of the United States, which held that the due process clause of the Fourteenth Amendment bars punitive damages for harm caused to individuals not involved in the litigation.Mayola Williams, the widow of Jesse D...
- RJR-MacDonald Inc. v. Canada (Attorney General)RJR-MacDonald Inc. v. Canada (Attorney General)RJR - MacDonald Inc. v. Canada , [1995] 3 S.C.R. 199 is a leading Canadian constitutional decision of the Supreme Court of Canada where the Court upheld the federal Tobacco Products Control Act, but struck out the provisions which prevented tobacco advertising and unattributed health...
Grounds of claims
Civil Rights: Tobacco companies have marketed menthol cigarettes specific to African Americans; groups have pursued civil rights remedies in court.Design defects : The design of tobacco products defectively causes adverse health effects.
Strict liability : The strict liability of the product.
Product liability : The liability of the product lies on the manufacturer.
Depriving of health hazards information : There is an ongoing civil court case in Finland, where three plaintiffs have sued tobacco companies on the basis that they marketed "light cigarettes" as non-hazardous to health, a claim the plaintiffs initially believed, before contracting serious lung diseases. The Helsinki district court rejected the claim in 2008, and the appeals court considers the appeal in 2010. "Light cigarettes" are actually more hazardous to health than regular cigarettes — they contain less nicotine, so that the smokers tend smoke more of them. "Light cigarettes" were officially recommended against in 1986 and banned in 2002 in the European Union. Other claims in the case are marketing to minors, purposefully aggravating nicotine dependency in smokers and denial of the hazards of passive smoking. The defendant Amer claims that the hazards of smoking have sufficiently been discussed publicly since the 1950s.
Defenses
Volenti non fit injuriaVolenti non fit injuria
Volenti non fit injuria is a common law doctrine which means that if someone willingly places themselves in a position where harm might result, knowing that some degree of harm might result, they will not be able to bring a claim against the other party in tort or delict...
: Volenti non fit injuria, or "to a willing person, no injury is done," is a common law doctrine which means that someone willingly places themselves in a position where they are negatively affected by tobacco consumption.
Contributory negligence
Contributory negligence
Contributory negligence in common-law jurisdictions is defense to a claim based on negligence, an action in tort. It applies to cases where a plaintiff/claimant has, through his own negligence, contributed to the harm he suffered...
: Contributory negligence is a common law defense to a claim based on negligence, that before the cases, the adverse affects were unknown. This has been one of the commonly used defences that defendants have used. Most of them will assert that it was the plaintiff himself that has contributed to his own injury as he has prior knowledge of the harm associated with tobacco smoking.
See also
- A Frank StatementA Frank StatementA Frank Statement to Cigarette Smokers was a historic advertisement run by major American tobacco companies on January 4, 1954 in response to a study showing that cigarette tar caused cancerous tumors on mouse skin. The ad ran in more than 400 newspapers throughout the U.S. aimed at an estimated 43...
- Operation BerkshireOperation BerkshireOperation Berkshire is the name of a program initiated in 1976 by seven of the world's major tobacco companies aimed at promoting "controversy" over smoking and disease....
- Tobacco Master Settlement Agreement
- Tobacco MSA (Alabama)Tobacco MSA (Alabama)The Tobacco MSA with Alabama is the particular version of the Tobacco MSA that was signed by Alabama, was enabled by means of legislation of Alabama, and has been interpreted since then in Alabama courts....
- Tobacco MSA (Hawaii)Tobacco MSA (Hawaii)The Tobacco MSA with Hawaii is the particular version of the Tobacco MSA that was signed by Hawaii, was enabled by means of legislation of Hawaii, and has been interpreted since then in Hawaii state courts....
- Tobacco MSA (New York)Tobacco MSA (New York)The Tobacco MSA with New York is the particular version of the Tobacco MSA that was signed in New York City was enabled by means of legislation of New York State, and has been interpreted since then in New York State courts.-Master settlement agreement:...
- Merchants of DoubtMerchants of DoubtMerchants of Doubt is a 2010 book by the American science historians Naomi Oreskes and Erik M. Conway. It identifies parallels between the climate change debate and earlier controversies over tobacco smoking, acid rain and the hole in the ozone layer...
Further reading
- Suing the Tobacco and Lead Pigment Industries: Government Litigation as Public Health Prescription by Donald G. Gifford. Ann Arbor, University of Michigan PressUniversity of Michigan PressThe University of Michigan Press is part of the University of Michigan Library and serves as a primary publishing unit of the University of Michigan, with special responsibility for the creation and promotion of scholarly, educational, and regional books and other materials in digital and print...
, 2010. ISBN 978-0-472-11714-7