Tobacco Documents Online

Copyright 1993 American Broadcasting Companies, Inc., All rights reserved. ABC NEWS SHOW: WORLD NEWS TONIGHT WITH PETER JENNINGS JANUARY 7, 1993 LENGTH: 4005 words BODY: ANNOUNCER: From ABC, this is World News Tonight with Peter Jennings. Sitting in tonight, Forrest Sawyer. FORREST SAWYER: Now while that attack was underway in one part of Mogadishu, bandits opened fire on a UNICEF relief truck on the other side of the city and hijacked it. Two relief workers in the truck were wounded. In Sarajevo today, some help at last for the residents of that home for the elderly where a dozen people have frozen to death just this week. UN troops arrived and installed five stoves five months after they were first requested, and doctors began examining the 108'surviving residents to see if any are so ill they need to evacuated immediately. In a moment, a dying man accuses the tobacco industry of lying to him about the dangers of smoking. On the American Agenda, vaccinating babies against a dangerous liver disease. And the cranes are home again in central Florida. FORREST SAWYER: On the day when the federal government officially released its report saying secondhand tobacco smoke kills thousands of people every year, a trial involving the tobacco industry is underway in Belleville, Illinois. A long-time smoker is suing the company he says tricked him into starting and continuing a habit that is killing him. Here's ABC's Chris Bury. CHRIS BURY: [COOPER] Retired army sergeant Charles Cooper is dying of lung cancer at age 51. [ CIGARETTES] Doctors blame it on his smoking up to two packs of Winstons a day for more than 30 years. [COMMERCIALS] Cooper is trying to convince a jury that RJ Reynolds, the maker of Winstons, conspired with The Tobacco Institute, an industry trade group, to deceive smokers like him. CHARLES COOPER: I knew that smoking was bad for your health. The deceiving part is the way that they represent their products. CHRIS BURY: [COURT SKETCHES] Cooper testified he was confused about the risks of smoking, though doctors had warned him to quit. His lawsuit accuses the tobacco industry of hiding evidence it had that smoking causes cancer. Lawyers for RJ Reynolds deny that. JOHN STRAUCH / RJ REYNOLDS LAWYER: It's difficult for me to believe that someone can credibly claim, "I was fooled or misled about the dangers of smoking", when you've had 25 years of warning labels. CHRIS BURY: [SU] The case on trial here is the first test of the June Suprenle Court ruling that warning labels alone don't protect tobacco companies from

smokers' lawsuits, not if smokers can prove they were deceived. ACTOR: [ CIGARETTE COMMERCIAL] Well, everybody's smoking Winston. CHRIS BURY: The core of Cooper's argument is that he was fooled by billions of dollars worth of tobacco company advertising and public relations. RICHARD DAYNARD / TOBACCO PRODUCTS LIABII.ITY PROJECT: [PRO CIGARETTE ARTICLE] They've made a four million dollar bet that this kind of advertising and PR is going to overwhelm in the minds of their customers the public health information that people like the Surgeon General are trying to get out. CHRIS BURY: Cooper is suing for three million dollars, but juries have been consistently unsympathetic to smokers who blame tobacco companies for health problems. After more than 300 such lawsuits, no one has collected a cent. Chris Bury, ABC News, Belleville, Illinois. ~~