Signs that read "The Wow Starts Now," promoting the upcoming release of the Windows Vista computer operating system are shown Thursday, Jan. 25, 2007 at a company cafeteria in Redmond, Wash. The world's largest software maker is expected to report fiscal second-quarter earnings after the close of trading. Analysts polled by Thomson Financial expect Microsoft to earn 23 cents per share on $12.07 billion in sales. (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren)



“No Proof to Admit Lung Cancer Caused by Smoking”

The first national ‘cigarette lawsuit,’ which has dragged on for seven years, is now completed with a judgment against the plaintiffs. The court ruled, “There is no such proof that smoking a cigarette caused the laryngeal and lung cancers."

The 13th Department of the Civil Consultation at the Seoul District Court gave judgment against the complainants in the two cigarette lawsuits where a group of four people, including some Kim, with the same purpose of claiming damages against KT&G and the nation. Some 28 lung cancer patients and their families, including Kim, claimed on January 25 that they suffered from mental disorders after the onset of lung cancer due to smoking cigarettes.

There were initially 31 and 5 complainants in the two law suits, but three in the first and one in the second group died after suffering from cancer, lowering the number.

The judicial department stated, “Complainants have personal histories of smoking cigarettes for a long period and have lung cancer. It is admitted there is an epidemical connection of smoking causing the disease, but there is no evidence proving that the defendant, who produces and sells cigarettes, had defects in production, planning and marking cigarettes. It cannot be proved that the complainants smoking cigarettes that the company sold led to lung and laryngeal cancers.”

The department also added, “There is no poof for approval on the onset of certain cancers, all depending on nicotine liability and complainants’ claims, which put all the responsibility, including other illegal activities, on the defendant. Nicotine liability is admitted, but unlike opium and amphetamine, dependence is weaker and smoking is due to nicotine reliance, which means it is a personal choice to smoke a cigarette.”

The group of 31 people who are lung cancer patients and their families requested compensation of 370 million won, dragging this fierce dispute between the complainants and defendant out for over seven years. They proclaimed, “Lung cancer is developed by smoking for over thirty years and KT&G did not act to protect the national health, without enough warning, starting from December 1999.
/ 입력시간: 2007. 01.27. 09:27