Tobacco Company Chairman Says Smoking RiskyFri, 4 Dec 92
BELLEVILLE, Ill. (UPI) -- The chairman of R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. Friday admitted there are risks involved in smoking but said he does not know if smoking causes lung cancer.
Jim Johnston testified for the second day in a suit filed by a former Green Beret who blames his pack-and-a-half-a-day cigarette habit for his lung cancer.
Charles Kueper, 51, of Cahokia filed suit in St. Clair County Circuit Court against R.J. Reynolds, the Tobacco Institute and a Cahokia drug store, accusing them of conspiring to deceive the public about the health risks of cigarettes through advertising and public relations activities.
Attorney Bruce Cook, who is representing Kueper, finished his questioning of Johnston before lunch.
Johnston, a two-pack-a-day smoker, said the tobacco industry accepts the ``statistical association'' between smoking and lung cancer.
``We believe there are risk factors involved in smoking,'' Johnston said, adding, however, that he does not know what the risk factors are.
Johnston said he does not believer Kueper was ``stupid for smoking.''
He said he recognizes the risks in smoking and called them ``reasonable,'' despite statistics showing one in four smokers die of lung cancer.
``I recognize there's a risk in smoking, just as there is in drinking or snow skiing,'' he said.
Johnston denied there is any conclusive evidence that smoking causes lung cancer.
``I don't know. I believe it may or may not,'' Johnston said.
Johnston denied there is any conclusive evidence that smoking causes lung cancer.
Johnston was asked to explain how consumers decide whether to smoke.
``We expect our customers to consider all the available information and to make their own decisions,'' he said.
He said parents and older siblings wield much more influence over young people who begin smoking than advertising does.
The trial earlier featured a company memo advising sales people to target stores near high schools and colleges.
Much of Thursday's testimony centered on advertising -- whether it influences people to start smoking and whether it places undue influence on young people.
Johnston denied advertising is used to convince non-smokers to take up the habit. He said it is used to influence brand choice among adult smokers.
The trial is the first of its kind since a June ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court limiting the grounds on which such lawsuits can be filed.
The 12 jurors and three alternates include seven non-smokers, seven cigarette smokers and one cigar smoker.
Author unknown.
