ASHES TO ASHES

There is a lawsuit going on in the United States which could have far-reaching effects in the US and also in this country.

It could also bankrupt the biggest, richest, cigarette companies in the world. Companies like Philip Morris and RJ Reynolds and British American Tobacco.

The United States Government has accused the tobacco companies of fatal lies and fraud. They are suing them for four hundred BILLION dollars. The cigarette companies have been accused of racketeering, fraud, lethal collusion over the health risks of smoking and of targeting teenagers in a deliberate attempt to win smokers addicted for life.

One of the allegations is that, for money, the big tobacco companies
“victimised the youth of America”. Make that Australia too.

The Government prosecutor, Frank Marine, put it bluntly in his opening statement when the trial started inn Washington this week.

He said: “This case is all about fraud. About half-truths and deceptions that continue to this day. “And he pointed out that if the billions of dollars in profits made by the tobacco companies was “money obtained by fraud” then, he said, “ it’s not their money”.

It is the largest civil racketeering case ever brought by the US Government. It accuses the international tobacco companies of colluding for decades to hide evidence of the health hazards of smoking. It accuses them of deliberately marketing directly to teenagers to build lifelong smoking addicts and of lying by suggesting the relative safety of so-called “light” cigarettes.

The tobacco companies are being sued under the RICO act (the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organisations act) which was originally brought in to cripple the Mafia.

All the companies have denied the charges and the trial is expect to last at least six months. It took five years to get it this far.

Prosecutor Marine said: “Why did the defendants pursue their course of action? Money. Pure and simple”.

He detailed nearly 150 specific racketeering accusations against the tobacco industry ranging from a deliberate attempt to fudge the relationship between smoking and health problems and the targeting of young smokers.

And the prosecution claimed that the cigarette companies had colluded to work consistently to cast doubt on the fact that second hand smoke – passive smoking – is dangerous.

As I wrote in a recent column in the Sunday Herald Sun I believe that the radical, but inevitable, decision by the Queensland Government to virtually ban smoking in all public places will also inevitably turn out to be King Canute for the stubborn and blinkered and cowardly Bracks Government which continues to push against the tide of medical evidence and public opinion.

A spokesman for the increasingly beleaguered and seemingly inept Health Minister, Bronwyn Pike, was quoted as saying that Victoria had adopted some of the most far-reaching smoking restrictions in Australia.

That is not far-reaching. That is far-fetched. The ban on smoking in restaurants came yonks after it was introduced in South Australia and even the start was delayed and delayed as they tried to appease several lobby groups.

The American court case, seeking 400 billion dollars in damages could butt out the legal tobacco industry.

Thursday, September 23, 2004

©Copyright Derryn Hinch 2004