If people filed court cases against the tobacco industry for causing deaths, there would be about 400,000 not-quilty verdicts!!
Gary K.

In Scotland a woman filed suit claiming her husband's lung cancer death was caused by smoking.This is the result.

OUTER HOUSE, COURT OF SESSION [2005] CSOH 69
31 May 2005

OPINION OF LORD NIMMO SMITH

in the cause
MRS MARGARET McTEAR
VS.
IMPERIAL TOBACCO LIMITED


Lord Smith wrote:
I must base my decisions about questions of fact on the evidence, and that alone . It is not within judicial knowledge that cigarette smoking can cause lung cancer: this is an issue which I am duty-bound to approach with an open mind and to decide on the basis of the evidence led before me; and the burden of proving it is on the pursuer.

In any event, the pursuer has failed to prove individual causation. Epidemiology cannot be used to establish causation in any individual case, and the use of statistics applicable to the general population to determine the likelihood of causation in an individual is fallacious.

Given that there are possible causes of lung cancer other than cigarette smoking, and given that lung cancer can occur in a non-smoker, it is not possible to determine in any individual case whether but for an individual's cigarette smoking he probably would not have contracted lung cancer.

Result
In my opinion therefore, for all the foregoing reasons, the pursuer's case fails on every issue on which I would have needed to find in her favour were I to hold the defenders liable to her in damages.


Now, we will use the findings of 'LORD NIMMO SMITH' to examine the so-called lung cancer death of each and every person that was said to be 'CAUSED' by SHS or 'SMOKING'.

"Given that there are possible causes of lung cancer other than cigarette smoking, and given that lung cancer can occur in a non-smoker, it is not possible to determine in any individual case whether but for an individual's cigarette smoking he probably would not have contracted lung cancer."

http://www.smokersclubinc.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=4757

R.J. Reynolds cleared in stewardess case

November 16, 2007


WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. (AP) - A six-member Miami jury found that R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. (NYSE:RAI) and other cigarette manufacturers were not liable in the case of a former flight attendant who died of lung cancer, the company said Friday.


The suit was filed by Gloria Menchini, who claimed her daughter, Annette, got lung cancer from exposure to secondhand smoke on airplanes.


Menchini's is the ninth flight attendant case to go to trial since 2001. Juries have ruled in favor of the tobacco industry in seven of those lawsuits. Another case ended in a verdict against the industry, while the remaining case ended in a mistrial and was subsequently dismissed.

In 90% of these SHS cases(8 of 9), people could not prove in a court of law that SHS was the sole cause of the health problems or deaths!!

Even the 2006 Surgeon General's Report states as much!!

Surgeon General’s Report-2006
http://www.surgeongeneral.gov/library/secondhandsmoke/report/
Chapter 1 Page 10
Evidence Evaluation

Specificity, referring to a unique exposure-disease relationship (e.g., the association between thalidomide use during pregnancy and unusual birth defects), can be set aside as not relevant, as all of the health effects considered in this report have causes other than involuntary smoking.

It's now another standard part of the mantra that ETS "kills" 53,000 Americans a year. This statement appears to be ultimately traceable to an article published in 1988 in Environment International: "An Estimate of Adult Mortality in the US from Passive Smoking," -A. Judson Wells.

When Mr. Wells was confronted with defending his own numbers, he backed away with remarkable speed. And though his body-count gets repeated as though his numbers were etched on tablets, he himself brushed them off with this:

"If people are looking at this estimate as a proven number, that is not the case."-("The Scientist," October, 1989)

Since the 'SHS or smoking caused' a lung cancer death or any other death would not hold up to be true in the vast (over 90%) majority of individual cases considered one at a time in a court of law, the statement "smoking or SHS causes 440,000 lung cancer or other deaths a year" is a wild exaggeration and 'FALSE'!!

Another finding in a court of law!!

I would be glad to see any other such findings that you might know of.

Gary K.

http://www.data-yard.net/10c2/japan_victory.htm

The Japan Times: June 23, 2005

Death, disease not linked to smoking: high court
By MASAMI ITO
Staff writer

The Tokyo High Court on Wednesday dismissed an appeal filed by former smokers, some now deceased, who were each demanding 10 million yen in compensation from Japan Tobacco Inc. and the government for tobacco-induced illnesses.

The six plaintiffs claimed to have contracted lung cancer, throat cancer and emphysema from smoking cigarettes for periods ranging from 33 to 50 years.

Three of the plaintiffs died after the lawsuit was filed in 1998 and family members have continued to press their cases.

Presiding Judge Toshinobu Akiyama said Wednesday that he supports the Tokyo District Court's ruling in July 2004 that the court "cannot affirm the causal relationship between smoking and the diseases of the plaintiffs and the deceased plaintiffs."

In Wednesday's ruling, Akiyama noted that while smoking does endanger one's health, there are other substances in the environment that can lead to cancer.

Such factors must be considered comprehensively when referring to the dangers brought about by smoking, the judge said, adding that the effects of tobacco on the human body have not yet been thoroughly clarified.

Akiyama also ruled that compared to other addictive substances, including heroine, cocaine and alcohol, nicotine addiction is relatively weak.

Since the 'SHS or smoking caused' a lung cancer death or any other death would not hold up to be true in the vast (over 90%) majority of individual cases considered one at a time in a court of law, the statement "smoking or SHS causes 440,000 lung cancer or other deaths a year" is a wild exaggeration and 'FALSE'!!

If 440,000 lawsuits 'WERE FILED' blaming 'smoking or SHS' for a death and went to court, there would be over 400,000 instances of "Dismissal due to lack of evidence and proof"!!!!

Gary K.