Witnesses Quizzed on Dangers of Second Hand Smoke in Federal Racketeering Case [09/30-3]

Excerpts from: UPDATE 1-US tobacco trial witness quizzed on 2nd-hand smoke

Reuters [09/30/04]

A lawyer for cigarette makers fighting the U.S. government's $280 billion racketeering suit sparred with a medical expert on Wednesday over whether the public was misled on the dangers of secondhand smoke.

Pulmonary specialist Jonathan Samet told U.S. District Judge Gladys Kessler researchers concluded beginning in the 1980s that exposure to secondhand smoke increased the risk of lung cancer.

"The association between secondhand smoke and lung cancer in adults has been examined in investigations conducted in the United States and many other countries," Samet said in pre-written testimony submitted to the judge.

Until the mid-1990s, cigarette makers made the case publicly that the connection between secondhand smoke and health hazards had not been proven.

All of them now either acknowledge or defer to the warnings of public health officials, who have concluded secondhand smoke is linked to increased cancer and heart disease risk.

Samet, a professor at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, said the results were statistically significant when researchers examined all the studies together.

Collectively, Samet told the judge, the results indicated exposure to secondhand smoke was associated with a 34-percent increase in lung cancer risk.

The government charges cigarette makers lied and tried to confuse the public about the dangers of smoking as part of a 50-year industry conspiracy.

Also on Wednesday, lawyers for the government gave the court pre-written testimony from a former Philip Morris research director expected to appear in court next week.

William Farone said in his written testimony that cigarette makers knew smoking caused disease even during the period they were publicly denying it had been proven.

Farone said the companies "have long understood" that cigarettes were addictive.

The tobacco companies "continue to obfuscate the science and technology of cigarettes and cigarette smoke" he wrote.

The tobacco companies deny they conspired to promote smoking and say the government has no grounds to pursue them after they drastically changed marketing practices as part of a 1998 settlement with state attorneys general.

Samet also cited a finding in the early 1990s by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency that classified secondhand smoke as a human carcinogen.

click here to view Dr. Jonathan Samet's Written Testimony Volume 1 (PDF)

click here to view Dr. Jonathan Samet's Written Testimony Volume 2 (PDF)

click here to view Dr. William Farone's Written Testimony (PDF)

This information is presented as a public service by:

Action on Smoking and Health (ASH)
2013 H Street NW / Washington, DC 20006 / (202) 659-4310
A national nonprofit, scientific and educational organization founded in 1967.
All donations are fully tax deductible.

Material on this page may be freely reproduced, distributed, and circulated
with attribution given to Action on Smoking and Health.

Dedicated to Mr. and Mrs. Warren Wells