Tobacco firms in soup over "Lights"

When was the last time you picked up a cigarette labeled “lights” or "light" thinking it might harm you less than the conventional “mild” or “strong”? Well going by the latest development in a US court, the judiciary has given a go ahead to a case which challenges the above stated so called “fact”.

Federal judge Jack Weinstein has given a green signal to a lawsuit which accuses the tobacco firms of duping smokers into thinking low tar or "light" cigarettes are less harmful than their other counterparts. The case can now proceed as a class action, involving millions of plaintiffs and huge sum of money.

Critical to plaintiffs' case is certification as a class action," Weinstein wrote. "No other method of aggregation of tens of millions of smokers' claims is practicable. The small amount of possible recovery for each smoker could not justify the expensive and time-consuming pretrial and trial procedures required."

Lawyers and plaintiffs believe that tobacco companies could have swelled their pockets by an additional 120 billion to $200 billion by the extra sales of “light” cigarette cover up. They plan to claim almost the same amount in damages and compensation.

Philip Morris USA Inc., R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co., Lorillard Tobacco Co are among the sixty five other tobacco firms against whom the lawsuit applies. Altria, parent of defendant Philip Morris USA, declined comment on the ruling until its lawyers could review the decision. Their shares fell by about 4 % after the ruling. Reynolds American, parent of R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co., and other tobacco companies could not be reached immediately.

In argument last week for the class certification, plaintiff attorney Michael D. Hausfeld said the manufacturers hoped to "move markets" with a cynical marketing strategy promoting light cigarettes as a lower-risk alternative to regular cigarettes, even though their own internal documents showed they knew the risks were about the same.

"They understood that they were selling death," he said. The question, he added, was "how to disguise it.... They put on 'lights.” He further argued that over 90 % of the smokers had take to “lights” on health concerns rather than for taste or other factors over the past three decades. These were introduced in the 1970s.

Another study had found that had smokers been aware of the truth and health risks, they would have expected a discount of over 50% on the price tag. This has laid the foundation for claiming $120 billion and $200 billion in damages.

Attorneys from the other side had argued that the allegations were based on flawed data. They further added that without questioning the entire pool of people it would be impossible to establish their motive of buying “lights” cigarettes.

The link between smoking and lung cancer was first confirmed in 1954.