Tobacco Companies
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Every year over 400,000 people die from a smoking related illness. This number is very alarming and makes one wonder why do people still smoke. Environmental tobacco smoke or secondhand smoke has caused about 3,000 cases of lung cancer deaths from adults that do not even smoke. Another alarming fact that a person should know is that secondhand smoke is associated with more than 300,000 cases of bronchitis and pneumonia among infants to 18 months year old babies each year. In children secondhand smoke increases chances of middle ear problems, coughing, wheezing, and worsens asthma conditions. Just a few simple facts show a lot about how bad smoking is. Everyone should know that smoking is bad for a persons health, but we still have frivolous lawsuits suing tobacco companies for people obtaining cancer. Smoking is very bad and I agree with that fact but I do not agree that people should be suing the companies for making the product because it is like jumping out a plane, the person knows the that there is a chance the shoot may not open but they still take that chance and jump. Smoking is like taking a chance on whether or not you will obtain an illness from it. Lawsuits against the tobacco companies are frivolous and should be thrown out and banned. I have obtained three different lawsuits against tobacco companies to show how they are being treated for trying to make a living.
The first lawsuit comes out of Tampa Bay, Florida. This lawsuit is the first ever to go on trail against the tobacco company in the Tampa Bay area. Suzanne Jones began smoking in 1940s. She was a house wife and a mother of a son. After being diagnosed with lung cancer in December of 1994 she continued to smoke. She dies eight months later at the age of 63. Her husband Robert Jones blames the tobacco companies on her death. He stated that she would smoke up to two packs a day of Carltons, Winstons, and Pall Malls. The two tobacco companies that were being sued are Brown & Williamson Tobacco Corporations and R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company. The two companies stated that Jones chose to smoke and that she had died from an abdominal tumor that was not caused by smoking. Mr. Jones is seeking “unspecified compensatory and punitive damages on behalf of his wifes estate.” The companies are planning on using some of the tactics that others fear from them. They are being represented by a half-dozen attorneys compared to Jones one. The lawsuit is a waste of money and time because the facts are all in favor of the tobacco companies and that the fact that the women made her own chose to smoke. This is only one of a thousand cases in the United States.