Light Cigarettes and Class Action
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The Tobacco Industry began marketing "light" cigarettes because? Anybody, anybody? It seems likely that it involved, at least a little, the need to hedge against the increasing sounds being made by the anti-smoking faction; don't you think? Could a fear of shrinking profits have been involved? Could they have had a desire to create the idea that smoking "light cigarettes" was somehow healthier?
The Schwab case being heard by Judge Jack Weinstein, in Brooklyn, NY, involves some of these very issues. A fascinating account of the hearing is published by Gene Borio at Tobacco on Trial
Apparently, the Big Tobacco lawyers were quite talented and, in fact, Borio reports that at times, he almost believed their arguments. Tobacco's lawyers argued that after publication of the study done by Dr. Neal Benowitz's group in 1983, "everyone" surely knew that smoking "light" cigarettes made little difference in the ultimate outcome. They argued that just because smokers switching to "light" cigarettes and smoking more (in order to get that much craved nicotine) could not be cited as fraud by Big Tobacco.
Once again, we have the argument by Big Tobacco that it is not really their fault. After all, they were providing a public service, right? They simply provided a drug everyone wanted and adapted to "light" cigarettes because the public wanted them! What they interestingly avoid, of course, is the careful manipulation of nicotine; the brilliant marketing campaigns to enlist more and more nicotine addicts; and their failure to disclose to the public that they knew or certainly should have known that "light" cigarette smoking does not equate to lower risk.