ASH Daily News for 06/11/2000
HEADLINES
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ASH Daily News
Saturday 4 - Monday 6 November 2000
Headlines
Lorillard and Liggett seek legal protection agreement
Profile of Florida tobacco lawyers
Nevada has highest US smoking rate
Customs clamp down on smuggled cigarettes and alcohol
Establishing a smoking cessation service
Full Text
Lorillard and Liggett seek legal protection agreement
Two major US tobacco companies - Lorillard Tobacco and the Liggett Group -
have tentatively reached an $8 billion accord settling punitive-damage
claims against them in nearly a dozen lawsuits pending in a federal court, a
move that could protect them from having to pay any punitive damage awards
now pending against them in other courts. The companies were expected to
make the announcement today. The proposed deal is part of a legal gambit to
shield themselves from paying any part of the $144.8 bn punitive damage
award against the top five US cigarette companies by a Florida jury last
July. Lorillard and Liggett broke ranks with the rest of the industry
after the Florida verdict and entered discussions with the plaintiffs'
lawyers.
Source: Wall Street Journal Europe, 6/11/00
Profile of Florida tobacco lawyers
The Sunday Telegraph magazine has a feature on Stan and Susan Rosenblatt,
the lawyers who took on Big Tobacco in Florida. Asked if the sort of
litigation they have been involved in will lead to alcoholics suing drinks
companies or people with clogged arteries suing the junk food industry, Stan
Rosenblatt replies: "Big Tobacco is uniquely delinquent. They knowingly
make a product that will kill a certain percentage of their customers. Now
that fits my definition of criminal and no other industry does that. It
bugs me when people start to dissemble and say that it's just a business
like any other. It isn't."
Source: Sunday Telegraph, 5/11/00
Nevada has highest US smoking rate
The US state of Nevada has replaced Kentucky as the state with the highest
smoking rates in the Union. Almost a third of Nevada residents smoke,
according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The latest
statistics show that 31.5 per cent of people in Nevada smoke while the
lowest smoking prevalence can be found in Puerto Rico (13.7 per cent) and
Utah (13.9 per cent).
Source: International Herald Tribune, 4/11/00
Customs clamp down on smuggled cigarettes and alcohol
The Mail on Sunday reports that customs officers are enforcing the personal
consumption limits on imported tobacco and alcohol, and seizing the cars of
those who exceed them. Up to 150 cars a week are being impounded. A customs
spokesman said: "We have a policy of maximum disruption of this [illegal]
trade. It is zero tolerance - one strike and you're out."
Source: The Mail on Sunday, 5/11/00
Establishing a smoking cessation service
Nursing Standard has published a paper on setting up a smoking cessation
support service. The article describes the setting up of a service for
cardiac rehabilitation patients in an Oxfordshire hospital. The development
of a smoking support group and the role of the nurse practitioner are also
described.
Moore, L Andrews S. Establishing a smoking cessation support service.
Nursing Standard. 2000; 15 (7) 41-44.
