A tip of the hat to John Hopkins, a fellow InjuryBoard.com blogger from West Palm Beach, for his post on why Big Tobacco uses Light to market many of its products.
Light Cigarettes Sound Better–and That’s What Tobacco was Going For!
Smokers came to know that smoking was not good for them, but Big Tobacco had an answer for them: “light cigarettes”. Lower in tar; lower in nicotine; keep on puffin’!!
That fiction, sold to the public for over 20 years, may actually be exposed by the light of day. Plaintiffs have asked District Court Judge Jack Weinstein to certify a class action lawsuit in which the plaintiffs allege that Big Tobacco mislead the public about the danger of “light” cigarettes:
“By engaging in the deception, defendants dramatically increased their sales of ‘low tar/light’ cigarettes, assuaged the fears of smokers about the health risks of smoking and sustained corporate revenues in the face of mounting evidence about the health dangers of smoking.”
In addition to this class action litigation all Floridians need to be reminded of their right to bring an individual lawsuit against the cigarette manufacturers if they have a disease or condition which can be related to smoking – or if a relative has died as a result of a smoking-related disease. The Florida Supreme Court has recently made some strong findings that make the individual cases economically feasible.
It is critical that all Floridians who believe they may have a claim contact an attorney handling these tobacco cases promptly. The window of time for the filing of the individual lawsuits will close in 2007. Our firm is able to quickly ask the important, qualifying questions and, if warranted, obtain the relevant medical records for a more detailed evaluation.
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