[Intl-tobacco] Canada: 'Mild' cigarette labels must go, court told

[robert weissman]

'Mild' cigarette labels must go, court told
Globe & Mail
October 26, 2004

By JANE ARMSTRONG

VANCOUVER -- Cigarettes that are marketed as "mild" or "light" aren't any
safer than regular cigarettes, and tobacco companies should remove these
labels and tell the public why, a court has heard.

The argument was made in B.C. Supreme Court yesterday by the lawyer for a
British Columbia man who is attempting to launch a class-action suit against
Imperial Tobacco Ltd., Canada's largest cigarette manufacturer.

The builder from B.C.'s Sunshine Coast started smoking in 1970 at age 14 and
soon switched to light cigarettes because he believed they caused less harm.
Kenneth Knight quit smoking in 1992 and does not have a smoking-relating
illness.

However, he said Imperial engaged in fraudulent advertising and should pay
back those who smoke light cigarettes.

The suit is being launched in B.C. because it has one of the toughest
trades-practice laws in the country. Imperial Tobacco has named Ottawa as a
third party in attempting to prevent the suit from going ahead. The hearing
is to last all week.

Lawyer David Klein is asking Madam Justice Deborah Satanove to certify the
class-action suit on behalf of Mr. Knight and other smokers of light and
mild cigarettes.

Mr. Klein said the so-called mild and light descriptions are a fraud and
that those cigarettes carry as many health risks as regular cigarettes.

If Judge Satanove permits the case to go ahead, it would be the first
class-action suit against a tobacco company in Canada.

Mr. Klein argued that Ottawa has known the cigarettes are problematic,
citing a letter former federal health minister Allan Rock wrote to Imperial
Tobacco three years ago urging the company to stop marketing the lighter
brands.

Mr. Klein read to the court Mr. Rock's letter, which said evidence shows
smokers tend to change their habits when they smoke a mild cigarette,
puffing on it harder, inhaling more deeply and even tearing off the filter
to get more smoke.

Mr. Rock also accused Imperial of marketing light cigarettes as a way to
keep people smoking.

"The time has come to dispel the myths that exist around such terms as
"light" and "mild" on cigarette packages," Mr. Rock said in the letter, and
urged the company to remove the descriptions.

Outside court, Cynthia Callard of Physicians for a Smoke-Free Canada said
the suit is being launched because Ottawa backed away from a plan to crack
down on mild and light labels.

In 2001, Mr. Rock was considering amending the Tobacco Act to outlaw the
labels, but the matter died when he was shuffled out of cabinet.

In its statement of defence, Imperial Tobacco argues that the case is too
unwieldy for a class action. Spokeswoman Christina Dona said people who
smoke mild cigarettes do not share the same motives to be considered for one
suit. For example, some people smoke light cigarettes simply for the taste.

Ms. Dona said the legal action has the whiff of a copycat case. An Illinois
judge recently ordered Philip Morris to pay $10.1-billion (U.S.) in damages
in a class-action suit there.

Imperial has also argued that Ottawa ordered it in the late 1960s and early
1970s to list tar and nicotine levels on cigarette packages.