Let’s Blame Big Tobacco

Reuters released a story last week saying that the tobacco industry just “won big” because the Florida Supreme Court refused to reinstate a 145 billion dollar punitive damages award against major cigarette makers found liable for selling a dangerous product. From the article:

Joe Martyak, an official with the anti-smoking group American Legacy Foundation, said the ruling could prove a death knell for class actions against cigarette makers.

"I think it's bad news for public health and it's even worse news for smokers," he said. "The ruling underscores that Big Tobacco will literally be able to litigate to death a smoker's claim for justice."

I’ve never really understood the basis for any of the anti-smoking lawsuits. At what point did smokers become victims? I’ve read a lot of stuff over the years about how tobacco companies did studies that showed smoking wasn’t harmful or that they at least suppressed data to the contrary but that’s all irrelevant anyway. The only question is whether a company can produce and sell a legal product people want to buy and then be held liable later if it has ill effects. Think about it. Tobacco is legal. The Indians grew it, smoked it, and liked it. The pilgrims showed up and grew it, smoked it, and liked it. Big companies stepped in and grew it, sold it to people who smoked it, and liked it. All of a sudden, it turns out cigarettes are bad for you, as if it wasn’t common sense that breathing smoke instead of oxygen was bad, and then we have to find someone to blame. Cigarette packs have had warnings for 40 years but people who smoke still want to be considered innocent victims. Anti-smoking activists are forever pointing out that tobacco companies produced phony reports proving smoking didn’t cause cancer or fired researchers who didn’t agree with that assumption, or that reports that showed the health affects of smoking were never available to the public. That stuff is probably true but since 95 percent of the smoking public never read or cared about any of it, it hardly seems to matter. Does anybody actually believe any non-smoker in the history of the world ever did research before lighting up? People start smoking when they’re kids because they think it’s cool. They grow up and find out it’s not cool but then they are addicted so it’s tough to quit. It isn’t impossible; it’s just tough. It seems in America, though, a lot of things that are tough are perceived as impossible – losing weight, exercising, saving money, or balancing a checkbook. I’m thinking of suing Sony for making their plasma TVs so expensive. I bought one last year even though I can’t afford it but I had no choice. It’s impossible to watch the super bowl without it.