Contents
Page
& Links
History
of No-Smoking legislation in Virginia -- it all
began with Virginia GASP
2010 Newest Entries -- including Altria's (aka Philip Morris) increasing the
number of people on their board of directors in order to include the
appointment
of the current President of the University of
Virginia, who is also director of the
University Research Partnership. Makes you have lots of
faith in that "research" group.
and smokers
winning against tobacco companies. A bad week for the
evil empire.
SECONDHAND, THIRDHAND SMOKE:
Dr. Chi C. Leung and others have discovered secondhand smoke is a risk
factor for obstructive lung disease and tuberculosis.
Study reported in the Archives of Internal Medicine
[February 8, 2010]
Virginia musicians Joe
Maniscalco and Warren Seaburg have suffered from cancer
brought on by the secondhand smoke where they have performed.
Virginia's restaurants/bars must now be
no-smoking. This amendment to the no-smoking
law, as of December 1, 2009 includes prohibiting smoking in all
restaurants unless there is a separately ventilated room preferably
with an outdoor
entrance, and no staff should be required to work there.
Hopefully, most restaurant owners will prefer to have
no-smoking rather than construct an expensive separate smoking room
where
employees would still be exposed to deadly secondhand and even
thirdhand (particulate
matter, nicotine residue, etc.) smoke, and the potential for secondhand
smoke related diseases such as cancers, heart disease including
strokes, and serious respiratory disease.
Additionally, Please see links on the rest of the
no-smoking law
in Virginia
, on the 2009 Legislative efforts,
Legislative News Excerpts
during
2009 legislative session, and recent articles on the restaurant/bar
amendment, two quotations from that recent article page are below.
From The Richmond
Times-Dispatch, December 13, 2009:
... In
an interview with The News & Advance
of Lynchburg, Kaine said that earlier this year he deliberately pressed
for higher cigarette taxes -- aware they would fail -- to force
Republicans to make tough choices and seek compromise in a bill to ban
smoking in restaurants.
"There was some 'strategery'
involved," said Kaine, quoting a phrase from a 2000 debate sketch on
"Saturday Night Live." Kaine said he knew federal stimulus money to
cover the shortfall would be forthcoming from Washington.
"By putting the cigarette tax on the
table, too, I gave every legislator one way to make Philip Morris
happy, by voting against the cigarette tax. A lot of [legislators]
voted against the cigarette tax and then they voted for the smoking
ban."
From The Richmond
Times-Dispatch, December 2, 2009:
[Governor
Timothy] Kaine said he was not concerned that a
subsequent legislative session would repeal the law. If anything, he
believes it would be made more strict.
Still the
incoming governor does not approve of the law the current governor
helped enact.
"The
governor-elect does believe this is a matter best left to the free
market, and he did not support this measure as it was debated in the
General Assembly," said Tucker Martin, a spokesman for Gov.-elect Bob
McDonnell.
Most Virginia
restaurants already are smoke-free by choice, Martin said. "However,
the legislation passed, and the new law is now in effect. As governor,
he will uphold and enforce all Virginia laws." [more excerpts
at this page.]
TOBACCO ATTORNEYS -- Trying to
escape Justice, reduce payments, racketeering decision?
Excerpts AP
article, January 16, 2010
... On behalf of the
[tobacco] industry, Washington
lawyers Michael Carvin and Miguel Estrada made their pitch against
seeking Supreme Court review in a mid-December meeting at the Justice
Department with [Solicitor General Elena] Kagan, according to two
Washington attorneys outside
the government who are familiar with the meeting in her office.
In the meeting,
Carvin and Estrada left the impression the industry might be willing to
end plans to seek a high court appeal of its own, if the Justice
Department would do the same, said the Washington attorneys, who spoke
on condition of anonymity so that they could discuss the private
meeting with Kagan.
The discussion
with Estrada and Carvin resulted in an internal department meeting a
few days later. At
this meeting, department lawyers discussed the possibility of seeking
billions of dollars from the industry as part of a possible negotiated
settlement of the suit, according to one of the private attorneys who
learned about this second meeting from participants.
The department,
the industry or both
could request that the Supreme Court take the case, while at the same
time asking that the case be delayed while the two sides try to work
out a deal.
If the
companies also agreed not to seek an appeal, they would be accepting
the findings of U.S. District
Judge Gladys Kessler that they engaged in
a scheme to defraud the public by falsely denying the adverse health
effects of smoking, concealing evidence nicotine is addictive and lying
about their manipulation of nicotine in cigarettes to create addiction.
Last May, a federal appeals court upheld the findings. The companies
then pledged to appeal to the Supreme Court.
Kessler ordered
the companies to make corrective statements about the adverse health
effects of smoking, the addictiveness of smoking and nicotine, the
companies' manipulation of cigarette design and composition to ensure
optimum nicotine delivery and the adverse health effects of exposure to
secondhand smoke. These statements must appear on company Web sites,
cigarette packages and newspaper and television ads.
If Kessler's
findings stand, they will
set a precedent that other plaintiffs can use for future suits against
the tobacco companies. ...
Philip Morris loses --
November 20, 2009: Florida jury says Philip Morris must
pay $300 million for addicting ex-smoker who has severe respiratory
problems from smoking. This is a case from the spin off of the Engle
trial.
Web
editor's note: It would seem that the least Philip Morris
could do is to pay immediately for the lung
transplant and all associated medical costs of the woman who is
suffering from being addicted to and smoking Philip Morris
products. She may or may not not live through the appeals.
What a surprise --
Philip Morris opposed
to health care reform? According to a national article
based on PM's own confidential documents, PM apparently masterminded
the defeat of the 1990's health care reform, and may be working to
defeat current proposals in the USA.
Information Secondhand Smoke
Virginia
-- 2009 Election for
Governor
-- Big Tobacco backed the winner Robert
McDonnell, Virginia's Governor accepted $376,636 from Big Tobacco,
59.18%
of that was from Altria, Philip Morris, PMI, including the $30,000 from
Altria to
the Opportunity Virginia PAC of McDonnell.
Additionally, for the January 2010 Inauguration, McDonnell accepted
$30,370 from tobacco companies: $20,000 from Altria,
$10,000 from
Universal Leaf. You may follow the money at the Virginia Public Access Project
which uses the reports filed with the state government.
EXCERPTS from The Richmond
Times-Dispatch,
November 4, 2009, headlined, "Analysis:
GOP sweep shows policies, not parties, are paramount in Va. politics",
writer, Jeff E. Schapiro.
A
year after tipping Democratic for president for the first time since
1964, Virginia fell to Republicans in a dramatic statewide sweep that
is a historic reminder of its enduring competitiveness -- but may not
be a model for a national GOP comeback.
"It's not a red state," said Jay
Timmons, chief of staff in the governorship of George Allen, whose
victory in 1993 led the last Republican resurgence.
"It's a highly competitive state,
where voters expect those they elect to be in tune with pocketbook
issues, create jobs, and promote growth in the economy. Party is not an
issue -- it's who they believe will support the right policies."
Gov.-elect Bob McDonnell easily
dispatched the lackluster R. Creigh Deeds, pulling in Republicans for
lieutenant governor and attorney general and padding the party's
majority in the House of Delegates, by playing to voters' economic
anxiety. ...
In the first Republican sweep since
1997, the double-digit wins by McDonnell; Lt. Gov. Bill Bolling, who
sought a second term; and Attorney General-elect Ken Cuccinelli suggest
that independents shunned their time-honored practice of
ticket-splitting.
To Paul Goldman, former state
Democratic chairman, this is a reminder of a constant in Virginia
politics: wooing conservative-to-moderate independents. They narrowly
favored Barack Obama last year in his successful presidential campaign.
"Back out the Obama votes, and this is
basically a 50-50 state," Goldman said.
... McDonnell's triumph came in a
comparatively thinly attended election. With yesterday's turnout
hovering at 39 percent -- down from a record 74 percent last year, when
3.7 million of nearly 5 million voters cast ballots ...
"They have not expanded the party,"
said Larry J. Sabato, an analyst at the University of Virginia who has
followed the state's politics for four decades. "They have just
motivated their base to show up."
Deeds, outspent about 2-to-1 in
television advertising by McDonnell and his allies, had no such luck
with Democrats.
His emphasis on McDonnell's law-school
thesis in 1989, in which McDonnell made observations about working
women, unmarried couples and gay people that 20 years on would seem
politically incorrect, proved an ineffective parry to the Republican's
economic thrust.
In a stunning reversal from 2008,
Democratic turnout fell sharply -- a consequence of party fatigue after
a long winning streak and Deeds' inability, despite two visits by the
president, to harness the more than 500,000 new voters, many of them
young or minorities, who flocked to Obama.
"This was always a big task that lay
in front of them; it was always going to be hard," said Kristian Denny
Todd, communications director for Sen. Jim Webb, D-Va., in his 2006
upset of GOP incumbent Allen.
"It was a personal vote for Obama,"
she said of last year's win.
BIG
TOBACCO and Republican Robert McDonnell,
Governor of Virginia
--
Robert
McDonnell, Virginia's Governor accepted $376,636 from Big Tobacco,
59.18%
of that was from Altria, Philip Morris, PMI, including the $30,000 from
Altria to
the Opportunity Virginia PAC of McDonnell.
Big Tobacco poured far
more money into Republican Robert McDonnell's
2009 campaign, than to that of opponent, Democrat Creigh Deeds.
McDonnell
supported Big Tobacco in 2009, opposing legislation to require
restaurants to be no-smoking. But Deeds supported Health in
2009,
voting for the legislation which passed.
In
January 2009, McDonnell said
he would NOT support Virginia legislation to require restaurants to be
totally no-smoking. Philip Morris agreed, and apparently
has rewarded
him. Will McDonnell listen
to the people or to Philip Morris, when he considers continuing Gov.
Timothy Kaine's (Democrat) executive
order requiring all state workplaces to be no-smoking?
Big Tobacco gave Creigh Deeds,
the Democrat, and a Virginia state senator who voted for Health, $72,092. In
the January and February 2009 Virginia legislative session,
Deeds voted for
health, supporting legislation to make all restaurants no-smoking,
and voting with the majority of Senators to reject House amendments
which were tobacco industry sponsored
ones. The no-smoking legislation passed and was signed into law
by the current governor. Big Tobacco had lobbied against this
legislation.
The no-smoking in restaurants legislation will ultimately save
lives, and save money at all levels.
Here's the latest information from vpap.org
Virginia Public Access Project, on the tobacco related finances.
Robert
McDonnell, Virginia's Governor -- $376,636 from Big Tobacco, 59.18%
of that from Altria, Philip Morris, PMI, including the $30,000 from
Altria to
the Opportunity Virginia PAC of McDonnell.
TOBACCO'S GIFT -- Strings attached?
$155,000
Altria, including $30,000 given to
Opportunity Virginia PAC = $155,000
$49,377 S & M
Brands Inc
$28,584 Star
Scientific Inc
$25,000
Michael E Szymanczyk, CEO Altria
$25,000 Universal
Corp
$17,400
Bruce A Gates, Altria
$12,000 Reynolds
American
$10,500 US Tobacco
$10,000 Malcolm L
Bailey, S&K
$10,000
David R Beran, Philip Morris
$10,000 Allen B
King, Universal Leaf
$3,000
John R Nelson, Philip Morris
$2,500 Harold W
Hamlett, Jr., Universal Leaf
$2,500
Howard A Willard, III, Philip Morris
$1,500
Denise F Keane, Philip Morris
$1,000 Preston
Baldwin, US Tobacco
$1,000
Nancy Brennan, Altria
$1,000 James
Dillard, Cos Cob CT
$1,000 Henry H
Harrell, Universal Leaf
$1,000
Craig Johnson, Philip Morris
$1,000 Edward
Kratovil, US Tobacco
$1,000
Miguel Martin, Philip Morris
$1,000
Peter P Paoli, Philip Morris
$1,000
Jacqueline Walker, Altria
$1,000
Charles Whitaker, Altria
$500 Wallace L
Chandler, Universal Leaf
$500 Cigar Assn of
Va
$500 Everett W Gee,
III, S & M Brands
$500
John Hoel, Altria
$350
Michael Mathisen, Philip Morris
$250
Brandie Davis, Philip Morris International
$250
David H Driver, Philip Morris
$250
Kristin Reif, Altria
$250
Kristin Reif, Altria
$225
Walter P Hempfling, Philip Morris
$200
Joseph Amado, Altria
$200
Gary Ruth, Philip Morris
$200 James H
Starkey, III, Universal Leaf
$100 Stuart
Shumate, US Tobacco
Virginia 2009
Legislative efforts to free
people from the deadly tyranny of secondhand smoke, and 2009
News items about the legislation.
March 9, 2009 -- Governor
Timothy Kaine signed the no-smoking in restaurants, bars
legislation, 2 pm at Croc's 19th Street Bistro in Virginia Beach, Va.
Governor
Kaine noted that when he signed an executive order in 2006 banning
smoking in state buildings and vehicles, he did not hear a single
complaint.
Delegate
David Englin (D) said: "Knowing that workers in restaurants that
allow smoking are twice as likely to develop lung cancer, this new law
is a real victory for public health."
Dr.
Thomas Eppes, Medical Society Virginia remarked: "The knock in
pediatrics is children exposed to secondhand smoke get sick at twice
the rate."
On
the passage of a restaurant, bar smoking ban in Virginia, to be
effective December 1, 2009:
[Governor] Kaine ...
called passage
Thursday “a very significant accomplishment” .... He said he ranks it alongside the
administrative ban on smoking he imposed on all state buildings in
2006, shortly after he took office. Associated
Press article.
** Breast
Cancer linked --
again -- to 2ndhandsmoke
How Much is a Life Worth,
to the tobacco companies, to society?
March 11, 2010: Florida state court jury
A six-person Tampa, Florida state court jury on
Wednesday [March
10, 2010] awarded $5 million in damages to the widower of a longtime
smoker who died of lung cancer at the age of 62. The jury
apportioned
responsibility for Charlotte Douglas’ death at 18% for Philip Morris,
5% for R.J. Reynolds, 27% for Liggett, and 50% for Ms.
Douglas. If
the verdict is upheld on appeal, the plaintiff will receive $2.5
million.
Ms. Douglas, who died in 2006, approximately two years after being
diagnosed with cancer, smoked various brands. She also made
multiple
quit attempts, including the use of nicotine patches and nicotine gum.
October 15,
2009: Appeals Court
Upholds California Jury’s Multi-Million Dollar Verdict against R.J.
Reynolds and Philip Morris.
The family
of Leslie
Whiteley, a smoker who smoked her first cigarette in 1972 at age
13, was diagnosed with lung cancer in 1998 and who died in July 2000 at the age of 40,
won a major victory on Wednesday when the Court of Appeal of the State
of California, First Appellate District, Division Two, upheld the
jury’s awards, rendered in 2007, for her estate: $225,000
(for past economic damages); $2,345,964 (on wrongful death claims); and
$250,000 (in punitive damages against R.J. Reynolds on the false
promise cause of action). The jury also awarded Leonard Whiteley,
Leslie’s widower, $30,000 for pre-death loss of consortium.
October 19, 2009
Massachusetts' high court today
rewrote state law and ruled that cigarette maker Philip Morris may have
to pay for diagnostic chest exams so smokers can get early warning they
have developed lung cancer. ...
Justice Francis X. Spina of the Massachusetts Supreme
Judicial Court in allowing a 2006 lawsuit filed against Philip Morris
to move forward, noted,
"Our tort law developed
in the late 19th and early 20th centuries …We must adapt to the growing
recognition that exposure to toxic substances and radiation may cause
substantial injury which should be compensable even if the full effects
are not immediately apparent."
Judge Sarokin comments on
tobacco company lawsuit so they can tell the truth to customers:
Judge H.
Lee Sarokin, The Irony in the Tobacco Companies Suing
So That They Can Tell the "Truth" , Excerpt from, The Huffington Post,
September 4, 2009
... the nation's largest tobacco companies
have sued to stop a federal
law which curtails their marketing and forces them to print graphic
warnings on their packages. (NYTimes, 9/1/09) The companies are
insisting on their right to communicate truthful information about
their products to adults who have the right to receive such
information. It is the industry's desire to protect its right to speak
the "truth" under the protection of the First Amendment that I find so
ironic.
First, I think some disclosures are in
order. I was the presiding judge over the first two major tobacco cases
-- Cippolone and Haines. After numerous tries, the cigarette companies
were finally successful in having me removed from the cases because of
the following, single paragraph in one of my many opinions in these
cases:
All too often in the choice between
the physical health of consumers and the financial well-being of
business, concealment is chosen over disclosure, sales over safety and
money over morality. Who are these persons who knowingly and secretly
decide to put the buying public at risk solely for the purpose of
making profits and who believe that illness and death of consumers is
an appropriate cost of their own prosperity! As the following facts
disclose, despite some rising pretenders to the throne, the tobacco
industry may be the king of concealment and disinformation.
The history of tobacco advertising and
public relations demonstrates that it was aimed at getting people to
smoke by making it appear fashionable and safe; encouraging them to
continue by debunking its risks; asserting the ease of quitting and
denying the existence of addiction and finally encouraging the young to
take it up to replace those who were quitting (with great difficulty)
or dying from the product or other unrelated causes.
The companies decry their right to
discuss and publicize their potential "reduced harm" products. Most of
you are too young to remember when cigarette advertisements proclaimed,
by way of someone posing as a doctor, that a particular brand was good
for your "T Zone" -- somewhere, as I recall, around your chest and
lungs. I don't consider anyone to be a greater advocate of free speech
than I. Furthermore, I note that Floyd Abrams represents some of the
companies. There is no greater expert nor anyone for whom I have
greater respect in this field. I make no prediction as to the outcome
of the litigation. But if history is any teacher, I can think of no
industry more deserving of scrutiny and strict government regulation
consistent with their free speech rights guaranteed by the First
Amendment.
Limits on free speech in the
commercial world must be narrowly construed and directly advance a
substantial government interest. Those limits should be imposed with
great hesitancy, but if ever an industry deserves them based upon prior
conduct, it is the tobacco industry.
Second Jury fnds against tobacco companies
for addicting
& killing customer -- this time it is the Vector Group
(Chesterfield cigarettes) --
No other manufacturer treats their
consumers this way -- addicting them, killing them, blaming the victim
for becoming addicted and dying, and the tobacco companies have never
apologized, never repented, never agreed to stop doing this. If
the FDA legislation passes, tobacco companies will be able to expand
their nicotine cartel to put nicotine in almost everything.
Jury
finds against Philip Morris in smoker's death -- PM must pay $8
million
-- how much is a life worth to the nicotine cartel?
From news
articles: "The jury that
decided a 40-year chain-smoker was helplessly addicted to
nicotine must now decide whether tobacco giant Philip Morris owes his
family potentially millions of dollars for his death from lung cancer.
..."
and
"They
are
co-conspirators with other major corporations regarding the health
effects and dangerous nature of smoking," another of Hess' attorneys,
Gary Paige, said. "There's no more of a sinister act than that."
and
"It
certainly
is a very bad sign for Altria that this first of the potentially up to
thousands of cases has gone against them so dramatically and so
emphatically," [Edward] Sweda said.
and
Alex
Alvarez, an attorney for Elaine Hess, said, "She's a 110-pound
elementary school teacher, and she went up against Philip Morris, one
of the most powerful companies in the world, and won."
March 16, 2009: Massachusetts Supreme
Judicial Court allows trial to go forward in
Aspinall, et al. v. Philip Morris, et al. regarding light cigarette scam
Ohio judge
-- no constitutional right to smoke in public!
Review of selected 2008
Entries -- health vs. tobacco
Review of the selected entries for 2007
The Face
of Evil
![[Virginia GASP logo]](smallvag.gif)
![[VirginiaGASP]](iconvag.GIF){kind=small}
Updated 16 March 2010