Widdick v. Brown & Williamson
"The Tobacco Conspiracy Trial"
Lung Specialist: Big Tobacco Knew About Smoking's Dangers in the 1940s -- and Did Nothing
(May 22) The family of Roland Maddox continued to show jurors proof that the tobacco industry knew about the dangers of smoking at least as early as the 1940s, as plaintiff attorney Norwood Wilner brought lung specialist Dr. Allan Feingold to the stand. Dr. Feingold, who has worked with Wilner on past tobacco and asbestos suits, told the court that there is an undeniable link between smoking and lung cancer. Using several medical journals, statistics, and graphs, the doctor called the tobacco's industry's claims about an alleged controversy over smoking's hazards "ridiculous."
Feingold reviewed the late Roland Maddox's medical records from the time he was diagnosed with lung cancer in 1996. He showed jurors Maddox's chest X-rays, telling them that he was complaining about severe chest congestion, coughing, and weariness. Displaying a chart, Dr. Feingold testified that almost all smokers develop lung cancer and that very few non-smokers get diagnosed with cancer. This, the doctor said, establishes a link between smoking and cancer and that instances of lung cancer rise with the amount of cigarettes smoked.
In addition, Feingold testified that by the 1940s and 1950s, there was sufficient evidence about the dangers of smoking that would have enabled the tobacco industry to warn the public about the hazards of its product. By 1963, the evidence of smoking's health hazards was apparently overwhelming. Feingold's point was that the tobacco industry had enough evidence about the dangers of its product to warn the public. However, Big Tobacco did nothing. According to the doctor, the fact that tobacco companies were conducting tobacco tar tests on mice and rabbits back in 1957 showed that they knew about its products' hazards. Dr. Feingold also testified that medical findings showed back then that the earlier a person started smoking, the higher the risk of cancer. Big Tobacco, he claimed, also knew about this and still failed to warn its consumers.
Brown & Williamson denies responsibility in Maddox's death, claiming in part that the decedent had switched brands from Lucky Strike to Marlboro Lights (manufactured by Philip Morris) in 1986, more than a decade before being diagnosed with cancer. But Dr. Feingold tried to deflate that argument, saying that the near twenty years that Maddox smoked Lucky Strike was enough time for the product to have contributed significantly to his fatal disease.
Plaintiff attorney Wilner said that he would start showing jurors never-before-seen Big Tobacco documents that allegedly prove the industry's knowledge and cover-up of smoking's health's risks when court resumes on Tuesday, May 26. Dr. Feingold also will return to the stand to continue his testimony. Court will not be in session on Monday because of the Memorial Day holiday.
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