Cigarette makers lied and tried to confuse the public about the dangers of smoking for 50 years, the US Government said on Tuesday as its US$280 billion case against the industry went to trial. 

In opening arguments in the biggest and most ambitious racketeering case in history, the government said a 1953 meeting of tobacco industry executives at New York's Plaza Hotel was the starting point for a conspiracy designed to cast doubt on links between cancer and cigarettes.

"This case is about a 50-year pattern of misrepresentation, half-truths and lies by the defendants that continues to this day," US Justice Department attorney Frank Marine told a federal court.

The 1999 lawsuit launched under President Bill Clinton targets Altria Group Inc and its Philip Morris USA unit; Loews Corp's Lorillard Tobacco unit, which has a tracking stock, Carolina Group; Vector Group Ltd's Liggett Group; Reynolds American Inc's R.J. Reynolds Tobacco unit and British American Tobacco Plc unit British American Tobacco Investments Ltd.

The companies have denied the government's allegations and say they have drastically changed their marketing practices since 1998, when they signed a landmark settlement with state attorney generals that severely restricts marketing and subjects cigarette makers to oversight.

Tobacco companies say the past misconduct alleged by the government does not mean that they are likely to commit fraud in the future, a showing they say is necessary to justify the US$280 billion financial penalty sought by the government.

"Cigarettes are not sold the way they were sold in the past," Philip Morris attorney William Ohlemeyer said outside the courthouse after the government made its presentation.

"The best way to predict the future is to look at how cigarettes are sold today."

Another Philip Morris lawyer Ted Wells also said on Wednesday it will be impossible to demonstrate the likelihood of future fraud because the industry now runs ads and makes information available on websites detailing the hazards of smoking and the addictive nature of nicotine.

"It's an unambiguous and clear message," Wells said. The statements, he said, "are of a permanent, irreversible and everlasting nature."

As the trial's first day continued, stocks of tobacco companies were mostly lower, including Altria, down 1.9 percent to US$46.19 a share on the New York Stock Exchange and Reynolds American Inc, down 2.4 percent at US$68.24 a share.

The trial is expected to last about six months and feature more than 100 witnesses.

Memo cited

In its opening arguments, the government said it would prove that the industry constructed a huge public relations operation designed to sow confusion about the health affects of smoking.

Justice Department attorney Sharon Eubanks cited a 1964 memo from a Philip Morris executive that said the industry had to provide "a psychological crutch and a self rationale to continue smoking."

In January, 1964 the US Surgeon General issued a landmark report outlining the risks of smoking that briefly cut into tobacco sales.

Citing dozens of similar internal industry documents, government attorneys charged that the cigarette makers misled the American public about whether tobacco was addictive, and whether it caused cancer and other diseases.

They also said they would show that the industry manipulated nicotine levels and marketed cigarettes to teenagers, even as they publicly denied both practices, and that the companies suppressed and destroyed potentially incriminating documents and research.

Justice Department officials want the industry to give up US$280 billion worth of past profits and seek tougher rules on marketing, advertising and warnings on tobacco products.

Cigarette makers say a US$280 billion penalty would put them out of business and have challenged the government's demand. An appeals court is scheduled to hear oral arguments in November on the penalty issue and some industry analysts think settlement talks could follow if the government loses.

Marine, of the Justice Department, told Kessler that the figure represents only a third of what the government could have sought.

"If it's money obtained by fraud, it's not their money," Marine said.

Lawyers for the cigarette makers are scheduled to respond with their opening statement after the government's presentation.

"We're prepared to offer a very detailed response to what you saw today," Ohlemeyer said outside the courthouse.

Later in the week, the government is scheduled to call former Food and Drug Administration Commissioner David Kessler as its first witness.

In testimony already filed with the court, Kessler has described how the FDA found that tobacco companies were manipulating levels of nicotine in cigarettes.

The former FDA commissioner is not related to the judge.

Some anti-smoking groups fear the administration of President George W. Bush may want to settle the case, but Attorney General John Ashcroft said in a statement that the Justice Department looked forward to recapturing industry profits and preventing the marketing of cigarettes to young people.

Teenage victims

Girls at secondary school are twice as likely as boys to become regular smokers and may be using cigarettes as an appetite suppressant to keep their weight down, according to research from Leeds University in the United Kingdom.

It found no difference between girls and boys at 11-12 when 2 percent of both groups admitted to regular smoking.

But by the age of 13-14, 16 percent of girls and 8 percent of boys had taken up the habit. And in the run-up to GCSEs at 15-16, 31 percent of girls and 16 percent of boys said they were smoking regularly.

The findings came from a six-year investigation by the university's school of psychology for the Economic and Social Research Council in Britain. They emerged as John Reid, the British health secretary, struggles to establish a consensus within the cabinet over whether or not to include a ban on smoking in public places in a white paper in the autumn.

Mark Connor, leader of the Leeds program, said girls were no more likely than boys to take up smoking as a result of peer pressure.

"One suggestion is that it has something to do with teenage girls using tobacco as an appetite control mechanism.

They are particularly using cigarettes to keep their weight down.

"But that is speculation and we are hoping to go back again and talk to those who have smoked about their influences," he said.

Girls' greater propensity to smoke had been indicated in British Government reports in 2000 and 2001, but the Leeds study is the first to show such a wide gender gap.

It was conducted through regular interviews with more than 1,000 young people, using saliva and breath tests to check the validity of the answers.

It followed a report by the Office for National Statistics in March showing an increase in binge drinking among young women aged 16-24.

Between 1998 the proportion of young women binge drinkers increased from 24 percent to 28 percent, while the proportion among young men fell from 39 percent to 35 percent.

The study found that health education lessons warning of the dangers of smoking did not have a lasting effect.

Children given these lessons in the early years of secondary school were less likely to smoke at 13-14, but when the researchers returned two years later the benefit was lost.

They said this emphasized the need to have repeated health education at regular intervals if it was to have any long-term effect.

Dr Conner said the researchers were concerned about the increase in the number of teenage smokers they found in their study.

"From the results of our study, the pointers to someone in the first year of secondary school taking up smoking by the age of 15-16 are being a girl and having smoked when they were younger.

"For those who were non-smokers at age 13-14, pupils most likely to take up the habit by the age of 15-16 were those with a more positive attitude towards smoking, who lived with smokers, had more friends who smoked than didn't -- and again, being a girl."

A Department of Health spokeswoman said: "We have a comprehensive programme in place to tackle smoking, which focuses on action to discourage young people from starting, and help for all smokers, of whatever age, to quit.

"The ban on advertising tobacco is aimed primarily at removing the attraction of glossy advertisements which entice young people to try the product... Over time we expect that the result will be a drop in take-up."

Most Danes support ban

A new poll has found a majority of Danes in favor of banning tobacco in public buildings and transportation, while every third backs smoking bans in restaurants.

One out of three Danes supports the introduction of a smoking ban in restaurants and cafes, according to an opinion poll by Catinet Research for Ritzau News Bureau published on Wednesday.

A majority of Catinet's respondents still support permitting tobacco use in eating establishments. Thirty-four percent support a ban, 55 percent are against, while 10 percent are undecided.

Danish Cancer Society director Arne Rolighed called the poll results a welcome change in popular opinion.

"The government and parliament should step up and put smoking on the national agenda. The Danish Cancer Society believes smoking should be prohibited in the public arena," Rolighed said.

(China Daily September 24, 2004)