It seems clear that it is not clear… or is it the things we know do not include the unknowns…or is it the things we don’t know are known unknowns?

In any event, based on comments I have seen in blogs, one thing is clear: the public does not understand the lawsuits that are occurring against Big Tobacco here in Florida.

The lawsuits in Florida, known as the Engle cases, largely involve people who became addicted to cigarettes and nicotine back in the 1920’s, 1930’s, 1940’s, and the 1950’s. The cases involve evidence of tobacco companies paying big bucks to:

• convince the public that cigarettes were good for you
• convince the public that nicotine was not addictive
• convince the public that smoking was a positive social choice
• convince the public that smoking did not cause cancer, emphysema, or other diseases

When Big Tobacco was required to place warning labels on cigarette packs, they spent huge sums of money backing articles and other efforts designed to convince the public about the safety of cigarettes; that stated no reliable link between smoking and cancer, much less other diseases, could be established; and that a grand conspiracy existed against cigarette smokers and the tobacco companies.

Bottom line? The Big Tobacco lawyers now want to reinvent history. They want to convince everyone that tobacco companies did not spend massive sums on advertising to convince the public that smoking was good for you, actually healthy for you.

They want to paint smokers who got hooked before the public was really aware of the dangers of smoking as making bad decisions. What they want the public to remember is only history that existed after warnings were given to the public and after all the smoke they could generate to hide the truth had dissipated.

Just check out this Camel ad from 1949:

Or this one from the 1950’s:

Those Big Tobacco guys are at it again.

Do they not care for Florida juries, Florida judges, or the Florida Supreme Court? At the least, Big Tobacco does not like the Florida Supreme Court’s decision in the “Engle” cases. These cases stem from a class, which was decertified by the Florida Supreme Court.

Big Tobacco just suffered yet another loss in Fort Lauderdale, Florida; where a jury, after hearing evidence, was apparently so outraged by the past conduct of Big tobacco they rendered a $20 million verdict for punitive damages against the tobacco companies. This was a case involving a 50 year smoker who died of lung cancer. The jury awarded $10 million in compensatory damages and assessed one third responsibility for his death against Mr. Cohen himself.

The tobacco companies are on a losing streak with juries who are permitted to hear even a small capsule of their history of conduct in marketing, manipulating and chemically engineering cigarettes. After this verdict on behalf of Mr. Cohen, Phillip Morris issued statements, which now have become the “party line” mantra and could simply be tape recorded and played after every trial they lose:

“We will seek further review of this verdict because this jury was allowed to rely on findings by a prior jury that are totally unrelated to the individual smoker in this case in violation of Florida law and due process.”

Let’s take a look at these “findings by a prior jury” about which Big Tobacco is so worked up. The findings they do not like and apparently feel are unfair, were actually set forth by the Florida Supreme Court after review of trial transcripts and other records involved in the “Engle” trials that went on over two years:

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In Alachua County, located in the middle of the Sunshine State, a jury heard evidence from Big Tobacco in defense of deceased smoker. They rendered verdicts totaling $16 million against Big Tobacco.

The jury did not believe Big Tobacco.

The spin, the deceit, or the rewriting history apparently did not help Big Tobacco.

Amanda Jean Hall sued Big Tobacco because cigarettes hopelessly addicted her husband, Arthur, and cigarette smoking led to cancer in as many as five areas of his body. Cigarettes killed Arthur Hall.

Dennis Murphy, one of Big Tobacco’s lawyers, told the jury: “The case is not about whether smoking can be addictive,” he said. “It can be.  But not everyone who smokes becomes addicted.”

What Mr.Murphy left out is the history of Big Tobacco telling Americans that smoking was NOT addictive. When they now need to be honest, they “spin” the truth.

Mr. Murphy told jurors that “the conduct of RJ Reynolds had no effect on Mr. Hall”.

So, producing the “best drug delivery system ever invented”; denying cigarettes are addictive; denying that cigarettes cause cancer; producing ads that romanticized smoking; all the other outrageous conduct on the part of Big Tobacco; Mr. Murphy maintains none of that “had any effect” on Mr. Hall.

The jurors heard all Big Tobacco’s evidence, but they apparently did not accept the spin, the the manipulation or the Big Tobacco’s revisions on history.

The jurors delivered a verdict which probably went something like: we find on behalf of the plaintiffs in the amount of $3.5 million in human damages and $12.5 million in punitive damages.

Things were bound to get hot for Big Tobacco in Florida. Our juries have good noses for “spin”.

Ya gotta love those guys at Big Tobacco. Deny, deny, deny. If that doesn’t work, spin, spin, spin. If that doesn’t work, try reinventing history.

In Florida, jurors have been hearing the truth about Big Tobacco antics over the years; and deny, spin, and lies is no longer working for them.

Thousands of smoking victims were required to file individual lawsuits against the Big Tobacco companies a couple of years ago, after the Supreme Court’s decision in the Engle case. Much to the chagrin of Big Tobacco, those cases are going to trial and Florida judges are trying their level best to allow sick and dying victims the opportunity to pursue justice in court.

Big Tobacco does not want anyone to know about the things they have been doing for 70 years.

They do not want jurors to see the memos talking about cigarettes being the single best drug delivery system ever invented; all the while Big Tobacco was denying that cigarettes were addictive.

Big Tobacco does not want jurors to see the memos where they analyzed the “youth market”. Where they discussed “the real need to become more aggressive against young adult males in major metro markets”. Big Tobacco does not want the light of day to see the studies where they discussed strategies for increasing their market shares with “14-15, 16-17, 18-20 age segments”.

Big Tobacco is desperate to deny jurors the opportunity to see the decades of publications in which Big Tobacco repeatedly told the public that smoking cigarettes was not addictive; smoking cigarettes was not dangerous to your health; and, in fact, smoking cigarettes was actually healthy for you.

Big Tobacco keeps losing trial, after trial, after trial; because once an unbiased public sees the truth, the written evidence, of Big Tobacco’s decade’s long campaign of deceit and irresponsibility, good and honest citizens can reach only one conclusion:

We find in favor of the plaintiff…

I saw recently that a U.S. Senator had sponsored a bill to have the FDA regulate the Tobacco companies.  According to an article in June 12, 2009 Washington Post newspaper, the bill was sponsored by Massachusetts Sen. Edward M. Kennedy.

It seems the FDA has had poor success in regulating other substances recently.  For example, there was the peanut butter scare which, according to Huliq News, began on January 13, 2009 when the Peanut Corp. of America recalled 21 lots of peanut butter from their plant in Blakely, Georgia.  That recall was expanded by Peanut Corporation of America to include all peanut butter manufactured at the Blakely, Georgia plant since July 1, 2008, according to Huliq News.  That recall affected brand name food manufacturers, such as Kellogg’s and Little Debbie, who used the tainted peanut butter to make their products, according to the Huliq News article.  People are so worried that they are constantly checking ingredients lists of processed foods made with peanut butter.  And all of this public scrutiny is taking place because the FDA did not catch a company in Georgia that continued selling tainted peanut butter to a host of food manufacturers.

Because of a continuous flow of news about the FDA’s inability to keep check on food and drug manufacturers, people are seriously concerned about safe food and drug consumption.  For example, consumers are wary about which dietary supplement sold over the counter may cause permanent liver damage, or which cold medicine may cause them to lose their sense of smell.

The issue of funding is yet another important matter.  Industry funds the FDA in a range that falls between 60 % to 70 %.  Therefore, a pharmaceutical company or food manufacturing company , are both possible funding source for the Food and Drug Administration.  The FDA treats those companies more like customers than as companies that the FDA is supposed to be regulating.  Our government created the FDA to help keep the people of our country safe from contaminated food and bad drugs.  Now, it seems more of a case of the fox guarding the hen house.

After watching a CBS 60 MINUTES special on how the FDA’s regulatory process works, I am not sure if corporate America runs the FDA, or if the FDA regulates corporate America.  Now, Sen. Kennedy wants us to trust the FDA to regulate the tobacco companies.  It all just doesn’t seem logical.