Do you remember the 2006 federal court battle between four smokers and Phillip Morris imploring that the nation’s largest tobacco company pay for annual screenings that would help prevent cancer?
The plaintiffs staggered their way into a lawsuit claiming that Phillip Morris should compensate for falsely advertising a product resulting in inevitable dangers to health. If someone really cares about his health, he probably wouldn't be walking away from this notion and saying that these are just simple lawsuits that occur on a daily basis. Not to mention the countless amount of lawsuits circulating among other tobacco producers.
Furthermore, this particular lawsuit favored and focused on smokers above the age of fifty who have consumed at least one pack a day for at least 20 years duration, so this shouldn’t be something new either.
Tobacco Companies are Consistently Involved in Lawsuits
The plaintiffs in the above lawsuit suggested CAT scans (which can cost more than $500 each) be conducted on such individuals at the company’s expense. The procedure could help save millions of lives but it won’t do the public any good when there are pro-smoking critics and tobacco company lobbyists everywhere on the prowl.
The number of tobacco-related cases diagnosed via medical imaging is increasing on a yearly basis, and people who have lost a relative as a result of chronic smoking only comprise a small group of those who are actually taking action against tobacco manufacturers.
Tobacco Company Lawsuits and Clinical Patients
For obvious reasons, clinical patients who have passed away from their long-term use of cigarettes are unable to defend their stance on their own—there is no way for them to prove there victimization in the court of law.
Dampening this realization is the fact that radiologist Denise Aberle of The University of California testified for The American Tobacco Company, now a subsidiary of Reynolds American Inc., and proclaimed that “it is reckless or irresponsible to promote” CT screening.
This statement is indeed very likely to be an improbable gesture. However, the statement is scary enough to warrant an offensive which health advocates and politicians should begin to conjure upon themselves. This should be done in dire haste of a possible worst-case epidemic, and not gradually over the years.
This is an issue that has been in debate for years, but may still have a long way to go. Furthermore, cigarettes produced by tobacco companies account for the vast number of uncontrollable cases of lung cancer each year.
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