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mt01ap
Joined: 04 Nov 2006
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 Posted: Sun Jan 28, 2007 3:01 am Post subject: Smoking article in Korean Herald |
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Check out this article in the Korean Hearld. The link to the site is posted at the bottom. It was front page on Saturday's paper, it made me laugh, but also made me cry
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Court rejects smoking lawsuits
Patients, families claim company to blame for lung cancer
A Seoul lower court yesterday rejected a 7-year-old civil suit filed against tobacco company KT&G Corp. by cancer patients and their families, citing a lack of evidence.
The court dismissed a claim by a family that the company was to blame for the lung cancer that killed a family member. The court also turned down a class action suit by six lung cancer patients and their family members.
"There is no evidence to prove that the lung and laryngeal cancers of the plaintiffs are directly caused by smoking," said Judge Cho Kyung-ran.
The judge admitted a correlation between smoking and the plaintiffs' illnesses, but said there was no evidence to prove that KT&G did not warn consumers properly about the dangers of nicotine addiction.
"While the court accepts the cause and effect of smoking and cancer, there is no evidence that shows fault with the cigarettes made and sold by the defendant in terms of their manufacture, design and labeling," Cho said.
KT&G shares rose 0.7 percent to close at 57,200 won yesterday.
Korea's first-ever smoking-related lawsuit was brought against KT&G in September 1999 by Kim Ahn-bu, now deceased, who died of lung cancer four days later. He sought 100 million won ($110,000) in compensation for his illness.
In a separate case, Kim Soo-man, a lung cancer sufferer, and 30 other people filed a tobacco liability suit in December 1999, demanding 300 million won in compensation.
Plaintiffs and legal representatives argued that 30 years of smoking was the main cause of their cancer, and that the government managed its tobacco business with the sole motive of increasing revenues.
"This is very disappointing. This verdict means that the judiciary only protects harmful companies," said Bae Keum-ja, an attorney for the plaintiffs. "There is a direct medical correlation between smoking and cancer. We will appeal."
Citing the example of American tobacco giant Philip Morris USA, which provides information on its website about cancer and cigarettes, Bae said KT&G was careless in warning its consumers about the dangers of smoking.
"These are people who have smoked since the 1960s, and the company only started printing warnings in 1989. We think the government and KT&G are responsible at least for the 30 years when consumers were not properly advised about the dangers," Bae said.
Meanwhile, KT&G argued that the plaintiffs could have quit smoking, but chose not to do so.
"The court has ruled wisely," said Park Ghyo-sun, an attorney for KT&G. "There are other elements that might cause cancer, such as environmental, physiological and professional factors. There is no direct cause between smoking and lung cancer."
Two other suits against the government and KT&G were filed in December 2004 and May 2005, demanding 750 million won and 100 million won respectively. They are still pending.
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http://www.koreaherald.co.kr/archives/result_contents.asp?id=200701260048&query=smoking |
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the_beaver
Joined: 15 Jan 2003
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| Posted: Sun Jan 28, 2007 3:07 am Post subject: |
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| People dumb enough to start and continue smoking only have themselves to blame. |
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EFLtrainer
Joined: 04 May 2005
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| Posted: Sun Jan 28, 2007 8:29 pm Post subject: |
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Yeah, has nothing to do with them being intentionally engineered to be even more addictive than naturally occurs. Ya think maybe that's why native peoples, who smoked the stuff, didn't get hooked on it?
Nah... |
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wannago
Joined: 16 Apr 2004
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| Posted: Sun Jan 28, 2007 9:47 pm Post subject: |
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| EFLtrainer wrote: |
Yeah, has nothing to do with them being intentionally engineered to be even more addictive than naturally occurs. Ya think maybe that's why native peoples, who smoked the stuff, didn't get hooked on it?
Nah... |
That's true. The siren song of those cigs from the pack just makes people start smoking and then become addicted after one try. But of course we can't make people responsible for their own actions. We all know that the eeeeevil corporations with the backing of the eeeeevil Bushie are the cause of every modern problem we have today.
And, we all know the "native peoples" were far superior in every conceivable way to us fat, smelly white folk. They were morally superior, physically superior and obviously intellectually superior. If only we had left them alone they would be a model of a perfect civilization for us to pattern ourselves after today.
Wait, why aren't they here for us to model ourselves after? |
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seoulshock
Joined: 12 Jul 2005
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| Posted: Sun Jan 28, 2007 10:29 pm Post subject: |
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| Volition is a good thing. |
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mt01ap
Joined: 04 Nov 2006
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| Posted: Mon Jan 29, 2007 2:46 am Post subject: |
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| Long time smokers, like the guy in the article who was smoking for 30+ years prolly didn't know that b*tch sticks were addictive or harmful to his health. |
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the_beaver
Joined: 15 Jan 2003
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| Posted: Mon Jan 29, 2007 3:24 am Post subject: |
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| mt01ap wrote: |
| Long time smokers, like the guy in the article who was smoking for 30+ years prolly didn't know that b*tch sticks were addictive or harmful to his health. |
Of course he was aware. It's been believed that tobacco is bad for people pretty much since King James I voiced his opinion on the subject and most other opinions went along that way. It was back in the 30s that the first modern studies showing a negative effect were done and the studies have increased during that time. In the 60s the American government finally said straight out that it's bad. |
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mt01ap
Joined: 04 Nov 2006
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| Posted: Mon Jan 29, 2007 4:39 am Post subject: |
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| the_beaver wrote: |
| mt01ap wrote: |
| Long time smokers, like the guy in the article who was smoking for 30+ years prolly didn't know that b*tch sticks were addictive or harmful to his health. |
Of course he was aware. It's been believed that tobacco is bad for people pretty much since King James I voiced his opinion on the subject and most other opinions went along that way. It was back in the 30s that the first modern studies showing a negative effect were done and the studies have increased during that time. In the 60s the American government finally said straight out that it's bad. |
Maybe he did and maybe he didn't. Maybe he never heard of the American studies that happen 5,000+ miles away. Maybe he didn't know of King James' opinion on the subject. Maybe he didn't know who King James was. Maybe he just looked at the label on the package and saw no warnings or any reason smoking might cause harm to his health (or are addictive). Maybe he just thought "I don't know what's in them. I just know I can't stop smoking them." |
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jinju
Joined: 22 Jan 2006
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| Posted: Mon Jan 29, 2007 4:52 am Post subject: |
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Maybe after he started coughing he should have thought "well gee, I DONT have a cold but Ive been inhaling some awful smelling shit for the last decade. MAYBE thats why?"
You have to be fucking STOOOOOOOOPID not to suspect that smoking is bad for you. Even without studies its pretty damn obvious.
And whats with this "cant stop smoking" crap? My father stopped smoking cold turkey one day. Only pathetic people dont have the will power to stop. |
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thepeel
Joined: 08 Aug 2004
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| Posted: Mon Jan 29, 2007 9:48 pm Post subject: |
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I think many people have a hard time stopping because they are constantly told how hard it is to stop. If you heard every day that quitting was easy, our perception of our struggle with the drug would change. People are scared to quit because they think it will be horrible.
Allow me to do my two cents for those who want to quit. It isn't hard. At all. For 3 (maybe 4 or 5) days you will be unmanageably grumpy and then it is essentially over. You might want to smoke when drinking, and that is ok. Just throw the pack away before you get home and never smoke outside of boozin. Unless you drink every night. Then I dunno. |
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jinju
Joined: 22 Jan 2006
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| Posted: Tue Jan 30, 2007 3:21 pm Post subject: |
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| BJWD wrote: |
I think many people have a hard time stopping because they are constantly told how hard it is to stop. If you heard every day that quitting was easy, our perception of our struggle with the drug would change. People are scared to quit because they think it will be horrible.
Allow me to do my two cents for those who want to quit. It isn't hard. At all. For 3 (maybe 4 or 5) days you will be unmanageably grumpy and then it is essentially over. You might want to smoke when drinking, and that is ok. Just throw the pack away before you get home and never smoke outside of boozin. Unless you drink every night. Then I dunno. |
Some people simply have no self control. |
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