|
Tobacco faces overseas suits
|
 |
December 10, 1998: 12:32 p.m. ET
Brazil, Nicaragua to sue Big Tobacco, Britain tightens advertising restrictions
|
NEW YORK (CNNfn) - Less than a month after U.S. tobacco companies agreed to settle a series of state lawsuits for $206 billion, other countries are smelling blood.
The Nicaraguan government on Thursday filed suit against 11 tobacco manufacturers, distributors and related organizations in a U.S. court in Puerto Rico, seeking to recoup the costs of treating smoking-related illnesses.
The suit did not specify how much the country hopes to recover, according to press releases distributed before a news conference in Miami. It accuses the defendants of violating U.S. racketeering laws by conspiring to hide the dangers of smoking.
Nicaragua was the second country in the region to sue the cigarette makers.
Last May, the Guatemalan government filed a similar lawsuit in Washington seeking about $300 million.
The Nicaraguan suit was filed against the Liggett Group, the Brooke Group, British American Tobacco/BAT Industries, British American Tobacco (Investments) Ltd./British American Tobacco Co., Brown & Williamson Corp., the Philip Morris Cos., Philip Morris Inc., Philip Morris Sales, Philip Morris International, the Tobacco Institute and the Council for Tobacco Research-USA.
Both lawsuits were filed by the Houston law firm Fleming, Hovenkamph & Grayson, which is soliciting other countries as clients in potential lawsuits against tobacco companies in U.S. courts.
Not to be left out, the Brazilian government also is gearing up to take on big tobacco. The country said it plans to sue U.S. tobacco companies to recover the multibillion cost of treating sick smokers, a spokesman for the Health Ministry said Thursday.
Two local newspapers are reporting the Brazilian government has been in contact with U.S. legal firms about bringing cases against cigarette makers. The ministry spokesman confirmed the report.
Daily Folha de Sao Paulo said the ministry wanted roughly $33 billion in compensation to cover spending on patients suffering from smoking-related diseases.
The cases would be brought in the United States as that is where most of the leading cigarette producers are located, Folha said.
Sometimes you lose, sometimes you win
Winning a small, if temporary, victory in Britain, however, the industry managed to escape a sweeping ban on smoking in public places.
Instead, Britain said Thursday it will introduce legislation to hasten a ban on tobacco advertising on billboards and in newspapers, Health Secretary Frank Dobson told parliament.
The move was far less crippling to the industry than it could have been.
Dobson disappointed health campaigners by announcing the government did not intend to ban smoking in public places, but would rely instead on a voluntary code in areas such as pubs and restaurants.
He said the British legislation to hasten a ban on advertising would enable tighter restrictions on cigarette advertising ahead of a European Union ban due to take effect between 2001 and 2006.
"People of all ages, including children, have been exposed to clever and eye-catching advertising material," Dobson said. "All that will now change. Tobacco advertising is going to end, and it's going to end soon,"
He noted the government will spend 100 million pounds ($165 million) during the next three years trying to tackle the effects of smoking.
Most of the money will fund a new National Health Service smoking-cessation program, with the poorest people given a week's supply of nicotine-replacement therapy.
On Nov. 16, cigarette makers and eight state attorneys general unveiled a $206 billion settlement of state lawsuits that further limits tobacco advertising and includes a multimillion dollar fund aimed at reducing teen smoking.
R.J. Reynolds, Philip Morris (MO), Lorillard and British American Tobacco Plc. (BTI), which owns Brown & Williamson, agreed to the proposal, under which they will fund a $1.5 billion anti-smoking campaign and open previously secret industry documents. 
|
|
|
|
|
 |
|
