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So Why Did Most Of Us In That Age Group Know Better Than To Start Smoking?
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It's pretty impossible NOT to hate Big Tobacco. And it's indisputable that they've made a ton of money with a product they know kills people. But when a jury -- all people under 40 -- awards the widow of a smoker $23.6 billion in punitive damages because they think R.J. Reynolds was negligent in not informing the decedent of the dangers of smoking, that ignores the simple fact that anyone with a functioning brain knew or should have known since at least the early 1960s that smoking is addictive and is likely to kill you. The jury was convinced that there were no warnings before the 1990s, which I guess you might believe if you didn't know there were Surgeon General's warnings on packs since the '60s and even before that, it was generally known that smoking wasn't a good thing ("coffin nails," cigarettes were called). This guy started smoking at 13 years old, in 1973, AFTER the cigarette TV ad ban was in place for two years. The word was out. What else were they expected to do, have someone at the store standing at the counter telling everyone not to buy their product? I wouldn't shed a tear if the tobacco companies all went out of business tomorrow, but whose responsibility is it if you hear all the warnings and smoke anyway? (CNN)
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