[Intl-tobacco] UK: Smoking may not kill, says tobacco executive

[Robert Weissman]

November 12 2003
Smoking may not kill, says tobacco executive
ELEANOR COWIE
Glasgow Herald (uk)

A SENIOR executive at a leading UK tobacco firm yesterday refused to
accept that
smoking causes lung cancer, but admitted in court that there was no such
thing as a
safe cigarette.
Gareth Davis, 53, the =A31m-a-year chief executive of Imperial Tobacco,
said the
company would agree that smokers were far more likely to develop serious di=
seases,
such as lung cancer, than non-smokers. However, that did not mean that smok=
ing
caused lung cancer, he told the Court of Session.

He was appearing as a witness in a ground-breaking test case against his co=
mpany.
Margaret McTear, 58, from Beith in Ayrshire, is seeking damages of
=A3500,000 from
the tobacco giant, which she claims failed to warn her husband Alfred,
who died of
lung cancer in March 1993, of the dangers of smoking cigarettes. If
successful, the
case could lead to a chain of litigation in the UK from sufferers of
smoking-related diseases.

Yesterday, after being bombarded with statistics from doctors,
scientists, and
government sources about the links between smoking and disease, Mr Davis
was forced
to accept that there was no such thing as a safe cigarette. Colin
McEachran, QC,
senior counsel for Mrs McTear, said: "With 40% of the market, your
company is going
to be responsible for 45,000 deaths in one year. Isn't that correct, on the
figures?"

Mr Davis replied: "I don't know that this is correct, no."

Mr McEachran continued: "If it were correct it would mean cigarettes
were very
dangerous?"
Mr Davis answered: "I think if it was correct, one would have to accept cig=
arettes
were dangerous, yes."

He said Imperial Tobacco had arrived at its position on the dangers of smok=
ing
before he took up his post seven years ago, but he endorsed the
company's stance.
However, he later added: "I think it's fair to say we believe smokers
are far more
likely to develop serious diseases, than non-smokers and we would agree
there is no
safe cigarette."

Mr McEachran then asked: "Does this mean that smoking causes lung
cancer?" Mr Davis
said: "No, it does not mean that."

Throughout the morning, Mr Davis was shown a number of cigarette packets be=
aring
statutory health warnings and asked if his company accepted the "Smoking Ki=
lls"
message. "We don't know. Smoking may or may not kill, but we don't
know," he said.
Mr McEachran asked Mr Davis if he accepted Imperial Tobacco had a duty
to take
reasonable care of its customers. "I think we have a duty to provide
products to
customers that are fit for their intended purpose," he said.

Mr Davis added that he had no reason to doubt official figures or that
the UK and
US governments and the World Health Organisation accepted a link between sm=
oking,
lung cancer, and other diseases. The hearing before Lord Nimmo Smith is
expected to
continue well into next year.