|
A Date to
Remember!
Write
down this date....October 8,1997...
For on this date,
after nearly 70 years of suffering in silence on the issue of
secondhand smoke, nine Nevada casino dealers, led by the
N.C.D.A.'s President Tony Badillo, filed a precedent setting class
action lawsuit against seventeen tobacco companies. Defendants in
the suit include R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co., Brown &
Williamson, the Tobacco Institute and Philip Morris, the world's
largest tobacco company.
The complaint outlines the fraudulent conduct of the tobacco
companies, who, the suit alleges, knew that cigarettes were
dangerous and toxic and that the nicotine they contained was
addictive. In spite of this, the tobacco companies still concealed
and denied these facts. It further alleges that the defendants
(the tobacco companies) controlled and manipulated the amount of
nicotine in their cigarettes for the express purpose of causing
smokers to become addicted.
Although, to this day, many people throughout the country are
damaged by secondhand smoke, and casino dealers are particularly
vulnerable. The rules and procedures dealers must follow cause
them to continually breathe secondhand smoke pouring from gamblers
sitting just inches away. Had the dangers of secondhand smoke and
the addictive nature of nicotine been made public, instead of
being hidden by the tobacco companies, the health and lives of
many people could have been saved.
These lies and secrets were not single incidents. They were part
of a decades- long effort by the tobacco companies to deceive the
public. They knew what they did was harmful, and, what is worse,
they intended to harm.
There is more substance to our case than we can present here, but
as the litigation unfolds in the coming months it will become
clear that Nevada's casino dealers were the victims and the
tobacco companies were the habitual lawbreakers. And, if justice
prevails, they will pay the price for their crimes.
--By Jack M. Lipsman
(Back
to Index)
|
