Surgeon General's Report Implicates Filtered Cigarettes in Increasing Cancer Risk

According to an article at Law360.com, the recently-released Surgeon General's report's conclusion that cigarette filters may actually increase the risk of lung cancer could lead to a new wave of class-action lawsuits against cigarette companies.According to the article: "The U.S. surgeon general's landmark finding last week that filtered cigarettes may actually increase the risk of lung cancer could lead to a flurry of new lawsuits against tobacco companies and even expand cigarette litigation outside of Florida, where it has flourished for nearly a decade."The Surgeon General's report concludes that: "The introduction of ventilated filters, or changes in the design and composition of cigarettes that accompanied their introduction, may have increased the carcinogenicity of cigarette smoke." The introduction and proliferation of filtered cigarettes occurred mostly in the decades preceding and following the 1964 Surgeon General's report and was mostly complete by 1974. Further reductions in tar yield occurred through other mechanisms, as by 1974, most cigarette brands were filtered. The Rest of the Story While it is undeniably true that subsequent changes to the tar yield of cigarettes (changes subsequent to the introduction of filters) did not lower the lung cancer risk associated with cigarette smoking, one must be careful in concluding that the introduction of the filter resulted in an increase in lung cancer risk.In fact, the bulk of the evidence suggests that the intr...
Source: The Rest of the Story: Tobacco News Analysis and Commentary - Category: Health Medicine and Bioethics Commentators Source Type: blogs