Tobacco Documents Online

it lN ea -.'~~t, *i The cantroversy over smoking gastings dismused testi mony ~.and lung cancer headed for a for the company as having come ahowdown in Federal Court here fm "paid performers " today1` -t ~c.t .]$+~ FF a t rdt r' He said statistics have Bhown , r.. ,,A~~er l~wo weeks of •testimony an association between the in• In a 1?i million dollar damage crease in smoking and the in• - auit against the American Tobac• . aease in lung cancer In this co C o., a 12-member jury heard country' final, arguments of counsel rep- resenting the estate of Edwin M. ,-.~!Don't you think that' the cOm- -Green, a Miamian who died of pany has some responsibility to ' lung cancer two years ago. '' Iaok at the leads which have been - " s 'upplied by science?" Hastings Green's w7fe, Mary, of 2712 SW asked the jury. _ ry 17th Ave., had charged the can• lTASTING LAB' cex which struck down her hus- He charged the company's main band, was caused at least In part, concern has been the taste of its ~ by his habit of smoking three . _ , t , . "~ ; . product. packages of Lucky Strike cigar ` • By ARTHUR JOHNSEY ets daily for over 20 years. "They have maintained a tast- Henia Staff Writer EVIDENCE DECISIVE ing lab instead' of a testing lab," A Miami Federal Court jury Hastings said, adding that t =- -- The contention of Mrs. Greenhe Monday became the only jury firm has spent billions for adver- the country to consid er the was can- safe for that human Lucky consumStrikes tion. were un- tising and "not'~ a penny for re- q estion of whether lung can- . consumption. . search into the problem." cer can be caused by heavy , In his summary, Dr. Lawrence ' smoking. y. Hastings, attorney for M r s. Testimony in this case has been ' But after three hours of de ~ Green; `loid the jury that it had ~heard from physicians and scient- __Iiberations, the jury was dis tsts for both sides M; missed for the night, with m merely to consider whether there struetions to return today at was preponderance of evidence Final argument from the tobac- 9 a.m., to resume their efforts against the manufacturer - not co company was to be heard later to bring in a verdict in the ' whether testimony'had shown coe- today. Judge Emett' C. Choate "lung cancer" damage suit ,dusive proof that Lucky Strikes „~as to charge the jury later tius tri~• caused the lung cancer. ` afternoon, U.S. District Judge Emett L`Ixoatp instructed the 12- member jury early in the after- noon on the laws governing the case, and put the decision -in~ their hands. "You are the first jury in theworld ever to have the opportunity to consider this evidence," declared the attorn- ey for the estate of Edwin F. Green, contractor who died in 1958: , ~. aneer Liability •;d; Gcts First Test His estate sued the Amert- can Tobacco Co. to prove lung cancer brought on by smoking ~ for some 30 years caused his N':death slw~'y} x*y~i4~{fi.~}r~ n A' I'he case went to the jury "with the warning of ~finerican ~Tobacco Co. counsel that 'a _verdict permitting damages for ; Green's death~ would ruin the tobacco industry, *~ ;'~: ~ . ,~ Such a decision, which t~ie at-^ , torney for the company..said ± Krould be based on evidence that ~"amounted to speculation, could mean the "death knell of the industry" by opening a rash of ~ damage suits. He said no proof had been offered that a primary lung cancer caused Green's death, and emphasized a possibility that the contractor's affliction could have come frQm some other part of his body j. 4 -' Repeatedly"he '-asked a the jury to remember that no autopsy had been taken after Green died although Green •~ bimseif filed the suit and re- corded his own testimony be- . A, tore his death "'1'he estate's attorney told the jury a lung cancer test case was reaching the jury for the first time "because every obstruc- . ~ tion in the world has been put in the way of the case getting this far." The jury summations climax- ed two weeks of testimony in which Green's wife, Mary, of 2712 SW 17th Ave., contended the cancer that' struck down her husband was caused at least in part by his smoking two to three packs of cigarets a day. , . . ; The estate's attorney charg- ed that the company's major concern in its research program has been preserving the taste of its cigarets rather than find- inQ whether they are harmful. ~ 003 543 a~{i: