Feds: Cigarette Makers Lied for 50 Years
In opening arguments in the U.S. government's $280-billion racketeering lawsuit against tobacco manufacturers, Justice Department lawyers said that industry executives started misrepresenting the dangers of smoking in 1953, Reuters reported Sept. 21.
U.S. Justice Department attorney Frank Marine told the court that a meeting of tobacco industry executives 50 years ago in a New York hotel set the framework for a conspiracy to lie about the link between cancer and cigarettes.
"This case is about a 50-year pattern of misrepresentation, half-truths and lies," said Marine.
The government also presented evidence that the tobacco industry developed an extensive public-relations campaign aimed at creating confusion over the health effects of smoking.
Justice Department attorney Sharon Eubanks introduced a 1964 memo written by a Philip Morris executive that stated that the industry had to provide "a psychological crutch and a self-rationale to continue smoking."
Named in the lawsuit are Altria Group Inc. and its Philip Morris USA unit; Loews Corp.'s Lorillard Tobacco unit; Vector Group Ltd.'s Liggett Group; Reynolds American Inc.'s R.J. Reynolds Tobacco unit; and British American Tobacco Plc unit, British American Tobacco Investments Ltd.
The tobacco companies said the government's allegations are false. They also claim that since the 1998 nationwide tobacco settlement with state attorneys general, they have changed their marketing practices considerably.
The trial being heard by U.S. District Judge Gladys Kessler is expected to last at least six months.
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