Dutch smoker extends damages suit to include state (fwd)

[Robert Weissman <rob@essential.org>]

Dutch smoker extends damages suit to include state
Source: Reuters, Tuesday, 9/28/99

AMSTERDAM, Sept 28 (Reuters) - A Dutch smoker suing the tobacco industry
for damages after contracting lung disease has extended his claim to
include the Dutch state, his lawyer said on Tuesday.

``My client is holding the Dutch state liable for not taking sufficient
steps to inform (the public) about the effects of long-term tobacco use,''
lawyer Martin de Witte told Reuters.

Wim ter Schegget, 55, who suffers from emphysema and is confined to a
wheelchair, is the first smoker in the Netherlands to take tobacco
producers to court.

De Witte said other smokers had since become party to Ter Schegget's suit,
which is expected to come to court by the end of the year. The new
claimants include a 50-year-old man with similar health problems to Ter
Schegget and a 40-year-old woman who has trouble walking due to vascular
disease caused by smoking, De Witte said.

He said he had documents to show that the Dutch Government had
commissioned a string of investigations into the potential harm caused by
smoking but had failed to act on the results.

``I've just received a report of a study conducted in the 1980s which
shows that the tar and nicotine content of rolling tobacco is far greater
than that of ordinary cigarettes,'' he said. ``But there are no rules
stipulating this should be listed on the packaging.''

Nor were there any regulations governing the disclosure of additives used
in tobacco products, De Witte said. ``It's an unregulated mess.''

At present, cigarette packets in the Netherlands are required to carry
warnings that smoking can cause serious damage to health, including heart
and vascular disease. The nicotine and tar content must also be listed.

A spokesman for the Dutch Health Ministry said it had no comment on the
suit.

``The minister (Els Borst) has not seen the content (of the suit) and will
not comment on matters before the court,'' Benno Bruggink said.

The Netherlands is Europe's third largest producer of tobacco products
after Germany and Britain. Given its smaller home market, however, most of
its products are destined for export. It is currently ranked as the
second-largest exporter in the world after the United States.

Last year Dutch-based manufacturers produced some 116 billion cigarettes
and 29 million kilograms of rolling tobacco.