By Austin King
Cigarette’s can’t be smoked without someone deciding to smoke them. That’s how the jury ruled in the DeLand tobacco case between R.J. Reynolds and Daytona Beach’s Stella Koballa.
They were right.
Koballa was seeking $1 million in damages as a result of smoking, but the jury found her 70 percent responsible. The presiding judge will determine how much, if any, the tobacco company is responsible to pay out of the remaining 30 percent.
How much should they have to pay?
Not a dime.
Koballa’s lawyers tried to frame the case around alleged disinformation by the tobacco industry, but their side of the story seems to ignore a key fact – reality.
Regardless of what R.J. Reynolds advertised, tobacco smokers are to blame for health problems they experience later in life. No company forces its customers to absorb something through their lungs.
Buying tobacco isn’t like other purchases. You don’t buy tobacco to decorate your house. You don’t buy tobacco to accessorize your wardrobe. You buy tobacco to smoke it. No marking campaign can force you to smoke a drug.
In a recent report in the peer-review journal, Chemical Research in Toxicology, scientists found the effects of smoking on DNA to be immediate. According to the report, “the results clearly demonstrate immediate negative health consequences of smoking, which should serve as a major warning to anyone contemplating initiating tobacco use.”
This type of information isn’t new though. In January 1950, Reader’s Digest ran a cover story about cigarette health concerns. Two years later, the magazine ran a series on the link between cancer and cigarettes with the damning title, “Cancer by the Carton.”
In 1964, the Surgeon General reported that cigarette smoking was a cause of cancer. In 1966, cigarette packs were required by law to list health warnings.
Yes, these changes occurred after Koballa began smoking, but she continued to do so. Being diagnosed with lung cancer shouldn’t be the reason someone decides to finally quit.
Circuit Judge Robert K. Rouse Jr. should set a precedent. He should hold Koballa accountable for her decision and send a message to others attempting to bring similar suits.
R.J. Reynolds didn’t cause Americans to smoke in the 1950s and they aren’t the reason many of us smoke now. You knew the risks, we know the risks. We have no one to blame but ourselves if our health fails as a result.