A Healthy Future Rejected
Imperial Tobacco, Rothmans Benson and Hedges and JTI McDonald, three giants in tobacco manufacturing are facing a huge class-action lawsuit expected to last several years. They insist that they are not responsible for the situation where the collective plaintiffs in the $29-billion lawsuit have found themselves in, addicted to tobacco and suffering the carcinogenic effects of their addiction, on their own. Rather, government too is responsible.
For, as they point out, government has long led the industry to a series of rules and regulations, which the industry respects, as it must. The ill health effects of smoking leads not only to the manufacturers placing these products on the market, but government which sets the standards from production methods to advertising and packaging. Just as the industry itself has become rich by its product, so too has government enriched itself through enacting taxes on the product.
The federal government, however, has been ruled recently by a decision of the Supreme Court of Canada not liable as a third-party defendant, when a British Columbia Department of Health lawsuit against tobacco companies took place, because government actions are policy decisions, immune from liability. But this is, nonetheless, the lead-off defence that the tobacco companies have emphasized.
What they should be doing is reminding everyone that it has been known within most peoples' lifetimes that smoking is seriously deleterious to the health of human beings. No one could possibly be ignorant of the inimical health effects of smoking on the human heart and lungs. Let alone peripheral issues of body tissues suffering the effects of smoking, with their slow, incremental destruction.
If anything could be called 'new' information being revealed about the harms of smoking, it is the invidious effects of second-hand smoke, the effect on passive bystanders so to speak, of the cancerous effects of tobacco. Of their own free will people decide to begin the smoking habit. If they become addicted, as they do, it is because they have decided to take the gamble.
In so doing imperilling the lives of others as well.
People who now suffer horribly from the effects of smoking, should be prepared to take the responsibility of their ill-informed and ill-judged choices. They cannot conceivably claim complete ignorance of the ill health effects of smoking, unless they claim also to have been raised and have lived their lives in an protective incubator.
Simply because they are now ill as a result of their ill-advised and deliberate choice to become a smoker and thus gamble with their future health, it is absurd to claim as they do, that this outcome is through no fault of their own. Laying the blame entirely at the corporate responsibility of the manufacturers of tobacco products is nonsensical.
As for the tobacco companies insisting that government regulations having been followed they are not responsible, but government is; that too is ridiculous. This class-action suit clearly demonstrates the reluctance of mature adults to behave as such. It also demonstrates the greed inherent in the legal community, urging smokers suffering ill health to combine their grievance for the opportunity to receive compensation.
A known carcinogen that is still legally available and is a chosen mode of relaxation and enjoyment for people is simply that; a product however, to be avoided by any consciously-thinking individual, self-respecting and anticipating a healthy future.
For, as they point out, government has long led the industry to a series of rules and regulations, which the industry respects, as it must. The ill health effects of smoking leads not only to the manufacturers placing these products on the market, but government which sets the standards from production methods to advertising and packaging. Just as the industry itself has become rich by its product, so too has government enriched itself through enacting taxes on the product.
The federal government, however, has been ruled recently by a decision of the Supreme Court of Canada not liable as a third-party defendant, when a British Columbia Department of Health lawsuit against tobacco companies took place, because government actions are policy decisions, immune from liability. But this is, nonetheless, the lead-off defence that the tobacco companies have emphasized.
What they should be doing is reminding everyone that it has been known within most peoples' lifetimes that smoking is seriously deleterious to the health of human beings. No one could possibly be ignorant of the inimical health effects of smoking on the human heart and lungs. Let alone peripheral issues of body tissues suffering the effects of smoking, with their slow, incremental destruction.
If anything could be called 'new' information being revealed about the harms of smoking, it is the invidious effects of second-hand smoke, the effect on passive bystanders so to speak, of the cancerous effects of tobacco. Of their own free will people decide to begin the smoking habit. If they become addicted, as they do, it is because they have decided to take the gamble.
In so doing imperilling the lives of others as well.
People who now suffer horribly from the effects of smoking, should be prepared to take the responsibility of their ill-informed and ill-judged choices. They cannot conceivably claim complete ignorance of the ill health effects of smoking, unless they claim also to have been raised and have lived their lives in an protective incubator.
Simply because they are now ill as a result of their ill-advised and deliberate choice to become a smoker and thus gamble with their future health, it is absurd to claim as they do, that this outcome is through no fault of their own. Laying the blame entirely at the corporate responsibility of the manufacturers of tobacco products is nonsensical.
As for the tobacco companies insisting that government regulations having been followed they are not responsible, but government is; that too is ridiculous. This class-action suit clearly demonstrates the reluctance of mature adults to behave as such. It also demonstrates the greed inherent in the legal community, urging smokers suffering ill health to combine their grievance for the opportunity to receive compensation.
A known carcinogen that is still legally available and is a chosen mode of relaxation and enjoyment for people is simply that; a product however, to be avoided by any consciously-thinking individual, self-respecting and anticipating a healthy future.
Labels: Canada, Marketing, societal failures
posted by Pieface @ 8:18 PM
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