A giant British tobacco company is to take the unprecedented step this week of denying there is a proven causal link between smoking and lung cancer in the first case against a cigarette firm to go to a UK court.
The unique defense, to be heard in Scotland's Court of Session, denies decades of scientific proof of such a link, which was accepted by the British Government in 1957.
Imperial Tobacco is being sued for £500,000 (US$835,000) by Margaret McTear, whose husband, Alf, a 60-a-day smoker from Beith near Glasgow, died of lung cancer in 1993. The case, which starts tomorrow, will be scrutinized across Europe by lawyers who want to bring similar actions against tobacco firms.
Margaret McTear's lawyers will call scientist Sir Richard Doll, 91, as an expert witness. It was Doll whose work in the 1950s is credited with establishing the link.
Yet Imperial says in documents filed into court: "Cigarette smoking has not been scientifically established as a cause of lung cancer. The cause or causes of lung cancer are unknown."
The company will argue that studies, such as those carried out by Doll, "report a statistical association between cigarette smoking," not complete proof. The studies "also report cancer to be statistically associated with other actors. These include race, ethnicity, religion, sex, personality, low socio-economic status, occupation, diet and education ... It is not known which, if any, of these plays a role in the causation of lung cancer."
Cameron Fyfe, McTear's solicitor, said: "I'm amazed. Many of the tobacco companies have accepted the causal link but Imperial continues to refute it."
Fyfe said Doll's decision to give evidence "strengthens our case enormously."
The case hinges on the fact that Alf McTear started smoking Imperial's John Players brand in 1964, seven years before packets had to carry a government health warning. His lawyers argue this meant he was unaware of the risks he was running. Despite denying the link, Imperial will produce press articles and broadcast transcripts to show there were significant concerns about the effects of tobacco throughout the 1960s which should have made McTear aware of the dangers. It has produced such newspaper headlines as, "Cigarette tar causes cancer," and "Million deaths from lung cancer by end of century."
It will even invoke a treatise written in 1604 by King James I who said smoking was "loathsome to the eye, hatefull to the nose, harmful to the braine [and] dangerous to the lungs."
Many experts predicted the McTear case would never reach court. The smoker launched it just before he died, and gave evidence on his deathbed without which it would have been lost.
"Alf was in a bad way. He could hardly breathe, but he insisted he wanted to get his evidence out to give us a feel for how difficult his life had become," Fyfe said.
The case has faced attempts by Imperial to stop it, and around 17 adjournments which held it up. At one stage the company demanded that Margaret McTear pay £2 million to the court to cover potential costs, a move rejected by a judge.
Alex Parsons, an Imperial spokesman, insisted it has always been keen to get to court.
"We believe this case is speculative and that our legal defense is robust," he said.
Margaret McTear said whatever the outcome, the hearing would highlight the links between ill health and smoking.
"I'm fighting for the young people, to try and get through to them the dangers of smoking," she said.
McTear, 58, a deputy manager with Help the Aged, faces financial ruin if she loses. Imperial could try to recover the costs of the hearing, and it recently served her with an order preventing her from selling her home.
Getting to court will keep a promise she made to Alf before he died.
"I gave him an understanding I would continue it, and my family will continue if anything happens to me," she said.
‘IN A DIFFERENT PLACE’: The envoy first visited Shanghai, where he attended a Chinese basketball playoff match, and is to meet top officials in Beijing tomorrow US Secretary of State Antony Blinken yesterday arrived in China on his second visit in a year as the US ramps up pressure on its rival over its support for Russia while also seeking to manage tensions with Beijing. The US diplomat tomorrow is to meet China’s top brass in Beijing, where he is also expected to plead for restraint as Taiwan inaugurates president-elect William Lai (賴清德), and to raise US concerns on Chinese trade practices. However, Blinken is also seeking to stabilize ties, with tensions between the world’s two largest economies easing since his previous visit in June last year. At the
Nearly half of China’s major cities are suffering “moderate to severe” levels of subsidence, putting millions of people at risk of flooding, especially as sea levels rise, according to a study of nationwide satellite data released yesterday. The authors of the paper, published by the journal Science, found that 45 percent of China’s urban land was sinking faster than 3mm per year, with 16 percent at more than 10mm per year, driven not only by declining water tables, but also the sheer weight of the built environment. With China’s urban population already in excess of 900 million people, “even a small portion
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
Beijing is continuing to commit genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in its western Xinjiang province, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a report published on Monday, ahead of his planned visit to China this week. The State Department’s annual human rights report, which documents abuses recorded all over the world during the previous calendar year, repeated language from previous years on the treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang, but the publication raises the issue ahead of delicate talks, including on the war in Ukraine and global trade, between the top U.S. diplomat and Chinese