A milestone decision issued on January 16th by an Italian court brings welcome death to the prospect of a delayed “American effect” in this country. The tobacco cow can no longer be milked.
According to the decision, smokers or their heirs will not be able to do to the tobacco industry what was done to it in the United States.
The precedent-setting court decision number 23877 of January 16, 2008 by a Rome tribunal has established that there is no causal relationship between cancer and the sales of cigarettes.
The logic behind the decision is that the cigarette in itself does not have the ability to create damaging or dangerous situations. It takes an act of will by the smoker to create the presumed damage or danger.
That precludes the use of article 2050 of the Italian Civil Code – inspired by the shameful Precautionary Principle – for which it is the accused (in this case, the tobacco industry) that must prove the absence of risk – something that, of course, is impossible to do! This perverted concept is at the very foundation of all the immoral legal actions used to extort money from industries everywhere, especially the tobacco industry.
The court established that the responsibility of cigarette manufacturers is to be excluded, as the smoker is fully aware that “from the abuse of cigarettes damaging consequences for the body can arise."
A still greater slap to the face of the antitobacco cartel destroys the BS theory of addiction.
“Furthermore, the decision excludes that the cigarette can establish a state of addiction to smoking, such as to induce some sort of ‘slavery condition’ of the consumer. The damage comes from the abuse of smoking (and not from [the use of] the cigarette as such) and therefore from the conduct of the consumer. If the consumer wants, he is in the position to quit, as the damages from the abuse of smoking have been known for a long time, now.”
There is an irony in this. Nobody could be unaware of the incessant propaganda on "damages caused by smoking" which has been drilled into everyone for decades. Now this inevitable familiarity plays a role in protecting tobacco companies from liability suits. That’s surely not what the hysterical propagandists wanted. We toast the rough justice on those who wove a tangled web.
People should be free to eat, drink, and smoke according to their own sense. Foods, liquor, or cigarettes do not "kill" and their manufacturers are not killers. In sane times the virtue of moderation in all things was appreciated. This can be reawakened, and when it is, the greatest humiliation will be to antitobacco, the vicious fanaticism of our times.
The link below is to the Italian article.
0 Comments