Tobacco firms ‘help smokers quit’

A Louisiana jury found that various cigarette firms lied about the dangers of tobacco and targeted teenagers.

A Louisiana jury found that various cigarette firms lied about the dangers of tobacco and targeted teenagers. The $591m is destined to be spent on nicotine patches, helplines, and other projects to help smokers quit. The case is thought to be the first in which the defendants have been ordered to pay for such projects. Indiviual smokers will not receive payments. The plaintiffs included anyone who smoked in Louisiana before the mid-1990s, when the suit was filed. ‘We won’t quit’ The punishment was less than $1bn they had requested, but the tobacco firms said they would appeal against the verdict. The defendants include Philip Morris, RJ Reynolds and Brown & Williamson, a unit of British American Tobacco. They will have to pay for the schemes for the next 10 years. Russ Herman, lawyer for the plaintiffs, said 6,500 Louisiana residents died every year from smoking-related illnesses. If the companies’ appeal held up the anti-smoking projects, he said, more people would die. “We will not quit,” he said of the continuing battle. Share prices in most of the tobacco firms involved held steady, despite the verdict. The companies had already been found guilty, and it was just the amount they would have to pay which was decided in court on Friday. (source: BBC Health, May 2004)