The Norwich bulletin:
An Norwich woman who suffered from larynx cancer has been awarded $8 million in a lawsuit brought against the maker of Salem cigarettes, the first victory over a tobacco company in New England, her lawyer said.
Barbara Izzarelli, 49, had her cancerous larynx removed in 1997 after smoking for about 25 years. She filed a suit in 1999, claiming the R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. made a dangerous and defective product, designed cigarettes to addict its users and acted with reckless disregard for the safety of consumers.
On Wednesday, a federal court jury in Bridgeport agreed with her.
Her lawyer, David S. Golub, of Stamford, called it a landmark case, the first smoker’s suit to come to trial in Connecticut.
“This is a very significant disability,” Golub said. “And 95 percent of all larynx cancer is linked to smoking.”
“There were times I never thought this was going to happen,” Izzarelli said Thursday. “I hope this is a lesson for tobacco companies.”
Izzarelli, who has four children, must breathe through a tube in her throat. She cannot eat solid food or smell. She can function most ways, such as driving, shopping and other things, but cannot work.
“I can’t go anywhere there could be chemicals or dust,” she said.
Golub used R.J. Reynolds documents stating that the company needed to set nicotine levels in cigarettes in such a way as to “assure consumers for 25 years.” He also established that Reynolds marketed to young consumers.
“Barbara Izzarelli was targeted by Reynolds when she was 12 years old with a product specifically designed to addict her,” Golub said in his closing argument.
The jury set Izzarelli’s damages at more than $13 million, but assigned 58 percent of the guilt to the company and 42 percent to Izzarelli, reducing her total to $8 million.
One of the key witnesses in the case was Dr. Thomas Lesnik, of Norwich, an ear, nose and throat surgeon.
Lesnik could not be reached for comment Thursday.
The Associated Press quoted an R.J. Reynolds spokesman as saying the company was disappointed and planned to appeal. Company spokesman David Howard could not be reached for comment Thursday.
Still at issue is the amount of punitive damages, which could be as high as $16 million under federal law.
Friday, December 31, 2010
Tuesday, December 28, 2010
Our view on tobacco regulation: USA-Today
Nation must do
more to keep kids
out of smoking
pipeline
Ever wonder how the tobacco industry has survived
a decades-long campaign by public health
advocates and government to stamp out the nation's
deadliest habit? One word: addiction.
Now, thanks to a U.S. Surgeon General's report
released this month, the public can find out a lot
more about how potent cigarette addiction really is
and how it has changed over the years.
OPPOSING VIEW: Concerned smokers can quit
"Cigarettes today deliver more nicotine and deliver it
quicker than ever before," says a consumer
pamphlet issued with the report. This change is
especially dangerous to adolescents, whose bodies
are more sensitive to nicotine and who are more
easily addicted than adults — which may explain
why the industry picks up about 1,000 new teen
smokers a day. And why the vast majority of
smokers pick up the habit by the time they're 19.
None of this is an accident: "The additives and
chemicals that tobacco companies put in cigarettes
may have helped make them more addictive," says
the pamphlet.
Nobody knows exactly when these changes
occurred because the public isn't privy to the
industry's methods. But the 700-page report for the
first time pulls together decades of research, and
some internal industry documents, to paint a picture
of how the content and design of cigarettes have
changed over the years.
The chemical form of nicotine has been altered so it
is delivered to the brain more rapidly and
effectively, setting off the craving for more. This
"free nicotine" would make the inhaled smoke
harsher, perhaps discouraging smokers, especially
new ones. But the industry has found ways to
modify that effect.
Filter holes and other types of ventilation make it
easier to inhale more deeply. Sugar and moisture
enhancers reduce the burning sensation, making
smoking seem smoother. Even a change in the size
of microscopic particles in smoke impacts how
effectively nicotine is delivered, which can intensify
the quick buzz that smokers want.
Suffice it to say, this is not your father's cigarette.
The report couldn't have come at a better time. The
dramatic, nearly decade-long decline in teen
smoking has halted among younger teens, and
there's evidence that more of them may be taking up
more to keep kids
out of smoking
pipeline
Ever wonder how the tobacco industry has survived
a decades-long campaign by public health
advocates and government to stamp out the nation's
deadliest habit? One word: addiction.
Now, thanks to a U.S. Surgeon General's report
released this month, the public can find out a lot
more about how potent cigarette addiction really is
and how it has changed over the years.
OPPOSING VIEW: Concerned smokers can quit
"Cigarettes today deliver more nicotine and deliver it
quicker than ever before," says a consumer
pamphlet issued with the report. This change is
especially dangerous to adolescents, whose bodies
are more sensitive to nicotine and who are more
easily addicted than adults — which may explain
why the industry picks up about 1,000 new teen
smokers a day. And why the vast majority of
smokers pick up the habit by the time they're 19.
None of this is an accident: "The additives and
chemicals that tobacco companies put in cigarettes
may have helped make them more addictive," says
the pamphlet.
Nobody knows exactly when these changes
occurred because the public isn't privy to the
industry's methods. But the 700-page report for the
first time pulls together decades of research, and
some internal industry documents, to paint a picture
of how the content and design of cigarettes have
changed over the years.
The chemical form of nicotine has been altered so it
is delivered to the brain more rapidly and
effectively, setting off the craving for more. This
"free nicotine" would make the inhaled smoke
harsher, perhaps discouraging smokers, especially
new ones. But the industry has found ways to
modify that effect.
Filter holes and other types of ventilation make it
easier to inhale more deeply. Sugar and moisture
enhancers reduce the burning sensation, making
smoking seem smoother. Even a change in the size
of microscopic particles in smoke impacts how
effectively nicotine is delivered, which can intensify
the quick buzz that smokers want.
Suffice it to say, this is not your father's cigarette.
The report couldn't have come at a better time. The
dramatic, nearly decade-long decline in teen
smoking has halted among younger teens, and
there's evidence that more of them may be taking up
Tuesday, December 21, 2010
Cigarette verdict may be felt across US
By Milton J. Valencia and Jonathan Saltzman Globe Staff I December 21,2010
It was hardly only Marie Evans. The Rev. Michael E. Haynes, retired pastor of the Twelfth Baptist Church in Roxbury, said he saw attractive young women in green outfits handing out cigarettes to people 50 years ago in Frederick Douglass Square, the heart of the city's black community.
Leroy M. Jenkins, 73, who grew up in Roxbury's Orchard Park near Evans and her family, said he received some of the cigarettes as a teenager after finishing classes for the day at Dearborn Middle School.
"They'd be out there waiting for us," Jenkins said in an interview.
The family of Evans, who died of lung cancer in 2002, more than 40 years after she was induced to smoke Newport cigarettes as a teenager, won an individual lawsuit last week against Lorillard Inc., but the groundbreaking case has exposed an industrywide marketing strategy that began a half-century ago to promote cigarettes to youngsters. In Evans's case it was Newport, a brand particularly popular among young smokers and the black community. Tobacco companies deny targeting youngsters in the campaigns.
But with the unprecedented, $152 million jury judgment in favor of Evans's family, the case could have a ripple effect on court decisions and public policy decisions across the country, as smokers weigh whether to file their own lawsuits and federal officials consider a ban on menthol cigarettes.
"This is an important decision, in that it shows that tobacco litigation is still alive and well," said Michael Siegel, a tobacco control specialist with the Boston University School of Public Health. 'There's kind of a perception that tobacco companies have paid their dues, and we're moving forward, but this shows from the public perception that we're not done yet, and that the public wants justice."
The judgment, $71 million in compensatory damages for Evans's estate and her son, and $81 million in punitive damages for her estate, is among the largest in the country from a tobacco wrongful death suit, and the largest for any trial in a Massachusetts court, industry analysts said. And it's not over yet: Judge Elizabeth Fahey, who presided over the trial in Suffolk Superior Court, is considering whether to award more money under the state's consumer protection laws.
Lorillard, based in Greensboro, N.C., acknowledged a sampling strategy a half-century ago but denied ever passing out cigarettes to youngsters or targeting minorities. The company, which never lost a lawsuit brought by an individual until Dec. 14, plans to appeal the jury's decision.
The Evans case was based in large part on the tobacco industry's internal documents that exposed a misinformation campaign, and an effort to specifically market to youngsters.
One letter filed with the Legacy Tobacco Documents Library, an archive of millions of industry documents released under lawsuits and kept by the University of California at San Francisco, shows that Senator Orrin G
It was hardly only Marie Evans. The Rev. Michael E. Haynes, retired pastor of the Twelfth Baptist Church in Roxbury, said he saw attractive young women in green outfits handing out cigarettes to people 50 years ago in Frederick Douglass Square, the heart of the city's black community.
Leroy M. Jenkins, 73, who grew up in Roxbury's Orchard Park near Evans and her family, said he received some of the cigarettes as a teenager after finishing classes for the day at Dearborn Middle School.
"They'd be out there waiting for us," Jenkins said in an interview.
The family of Evans, who died of lung cancer in 2002, more than 40 years after she was induced to smoke Newport cigarettes as a teenager, won an individual lawsuit last week against Lorillard Inc., but the groundbreaking case has exposed an industrywide marketing strategy that began a half-century ago to promote cigarettes to youngsters. In Evans's case it was Newport, a brand particularly popular among young smokers and the black community. Tobacco companies deny targeting youngsters in the campaigns.
But with the unprecedented, $152 million jury judgment in favor of Evans's family, the case could have a ripple effect on court decisions and public policy decisions across the country, as smokers weigh whether to file their own lawsuits and federal officials consider a ban on menthol cigarettes.
"This is an important decision, in that it shows that tobacco litigation is still alive and well," said Michael Siegel, a tobacco control specialist with the Boston University School of Public Health. 'There's kind of a perception that tobacco companies have paid their dues, and we're moving forward, but this shows from the public perception that we're not done yet, and that the public wants justice."
The judgment, $71 million in compensatory damages for Evans's estate and her son, and $81 million in punitive damages for her estate, is among the largest in the country from a tobacco wrongful death suit, and the largest for any trial in a Massachusetts court, industry analysts said. And it's not over yet: Judge Elizabeth Fahey, who presided over the trial in Suffolk Superior Court, is considering whether to award more money under the state's consumer protection laws.
Lorillard, based in Greensboro, N.C., acknowledged a sampling strategy a half-century ago but denied ever passing out cigarettes to youngsters or targeting minorities. The company, which never lost a lawsuit brought by an individual until Dec. 14, plans to appeal the jury's decision.
The Evans case was based in large part on the tobacco industry's internal documents that exposed a misinformation campaign, and an effort to specifically market to youngsters.
One letter filed with the Legacy Tobacco Documents Library, an archive of millions of industry documents released under lawsuits and kept by the University of California at San Francisco, shows that Senator Orrin G
Monday, December 20, 2010
The Oral, Head and Neck Cancer Group January Meeting
The Oral, Head and neck Cancer Support Group wiil be meeting on January 3rd, at 7PM
Meeting are held at the John A. DeQuattro Cancer Center, 100 Haynes Street, Manchester, Conn. in the lrst floor conferenc room.
Meeting are held at the John A. DeQuattro Cancer Center, 100 Haynes Street, Manchester, Conn. in the lrst floor conferenc room.
Sunday, December 19, 2010
Anti-Smoking----A Huge Payoff!
courant.com/news/opinion/hc-op-salner-anti-smoking-1219-20101219,0,947324.story
Courant.com
For Anti-Tobacco Investment, A Huge Payoff
By ANDREW L. SALNER
December 19, 2010
Every year, tobacco use is responsible for approximately one of five deaths nationwide from cancer, heart disease, stroke or respiratory disease. As such, it is the single most preventable cause of disease and death.
In Connecticut, approximately 4,800 residents die each year due to a tobacco-related cause, and another 440 nonsmokers die from secondhand exposure to tobacco smoke. Annual health care costs in Connecticut related to tobacco exposure are estimated at $2 billion, with approximately $507 million paid for by the state's Medicaid program. Further, an estimated $1 billion in additional cost is related to lost productivity. As a practicing oncologist, I suggest to my patients and family members that they quit using tobacco as an important way to maintain good health.
Thanks in large part to smoke-free public places, tobacco excise taxes and education for our children and adults, the smoking prevalence rate in Connecticut has decreased to 15.4 percent overall. Smoking rates are higher among people in lower economic and education levels, and those with psychiatric and substance-abuse illnesses. Medicaid recipients have tobacco-use rates more than twice as high as rest of the population, at 36 percent. In Connecticut, pregnant women on Medicaid are twice as likely to smoke as non-Medicaid recipients, placing themselves at higher risk for problems such as premature birth and low-birth-weight babies.
Despite an influx of more than $400 million annually in tobacco taxes and settlement funds, Connecticut spends less than $7 million a year on tobacco prevention and cessation programs, far less than the $45 million recommended by the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. This funding is in jeopardy in the next fiscal year due to the state's budget crisis.
Strategies with proven results such as anti-smoking marketing, prevention and cessation programs have demonstrated over and over in other states that disease and death rates can be lowered, and dollars can actually be saved! There appears to be a leveraging effect, with a $2 to $4 long-term savings for every dollar invested in these programs. This could create a win for people who are smokers, their families and communities, and a win for the taxpayers of Connecticut, who spend a considerable amount of money to pay for medical and other costs of smokers every year.
We should start with our Medicaid population. Our state is one of only three that does not fund cessation programs for these residents. Massachusetts introduced a comprehensive smoking cessation program for Medicaid participants 2 1/2 years ago. Since then, 75,000 people have used the program. The smoking rate dropped by 26 percent in this population and new data reveal a 46 percent drop in heart attacks in this group. An investment in Medicaid cessation will also garner matching federal funds.
How much more evidence do we need as a state to say yes to helping people break their tobacco addiction? Not only will it save lives, but it will also help save money in this time of sky-high budget deficits. The end of 2010 marks another year when Connecticut missed an opportunity to save lives and money by helping people quit smoking. The new administration, under Gov.-elect Dan Malloy, should to do the right thing and fund this program.
Andrew L. Salner is director of the Helen & Harry Gray Cancer Center at Hartford Hospital and co-chairman of the SustiNet Tobacco and Smoking Cessation Task Force.
Courant.com
For Anti-Tobacco Investment, A Huge Payoff
By ANDREW L. SALNER
December 19, 2010
Every year, tobacco use is responsible for approximately one of five deaths nationwide from cancer, heart disease, stroke or respiratory disease. As such, it is the single most preventable cause of disease and death.
In Connecticut, approximately 4,800 residents die each year due to a tobacco-related cause, and another 440 nonsmokers die from secondhand exposure to tobacco smoke. Annual health care costs in Connecticut related to tobacco exposure are estimated at $2 billion, with approximately $507 million paid for by the state's Medicaid program. Further, an estimated $1 billion in additional cost is related to lost productivity. As a practicing oncologist, I suggest to my patients and family members that they quit using tobacco as an important way to maintain good health.
Thanks in large part to smoke-free public places, tobacco excise taxes and education for our children and adults, the smoking prevalence rate in Connecticut has decreased to 15.4 percent overall. Smoking rates are higher among people in lower economic and education levels, and those with psychiatric and substance-abuse illnesses. Medicaid recipients have tobacco-use rates more than twice as high as rest of the population, at 36 percent. In Connecticut, pregnant women on Medicaid are twice as likely to smoke as non-Medicaid recipients, placing themselves at higher risk for problems such as premature birth and low-birth-weight babies.
Despite an influx of more than $400 million annually in tobacco taxes and settlement funds, Connecticut spends less than $7 million a year on tobacco prevention and cessation programs, far less than the $45 million recommended by the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. This funding is in jeopardy in the next fiscal year due to the state's budget crisis.
Strategies with proven results such as anti-smoking marketing, prevention and cessation programs have demonstrated over and over in other states that disease and death rates can be lowered, and dollars can actually be saved! There appears to be a leveraging effect, with a $2 to $4 long-term savings for every dollar invested in these programs. This could create a win for people who are smokers, their families and communities, and a win for the taxpayers of Connecticut, who spend a considerable amount of money to pay for medical and other costs of smokers every year.
We should start with our Medicaid population. Our state is one of only three that does not fund cessation programs for these residents. Massachusetts introduced a comprehensive smoking cessation program for Medicaid participants 2 1/2 years ago. Since then, 75,000 people have used the program. The smoking rate dropped by 26 percent in this population and new data reveal a 46 percent drop in heart attacks in this group. An investment in Medicaid cessation will also garner matching federal funds.
How much more evidence do we need as a state to say yes to helping people break their tobacco addiction? Not only will it save lives, but it will also help save money in this time of sky-high budget deficits. The end of 2010 marks another year when Connecticut missed an opportunity to save lives and money by helping people quit smoking. The new administration, under Gov.-elect Dan Malloy, should to do the right thing and fund this program.
Andrew L. Salner is director of the Helen & Harry Gray Cancer Center at Hartford Hospital and co-chairman of the SustiNet Tobacco and Smoking Cessation Task Force.
Saturday, December 11, 2010
Financial Resolve!
Finalizing the financial account of the BSLC group as directed by the group at our last meeting held Sunday November 17th.
We purchased refurbished electrolarynxes for the new laryngectomees that do not have sufficient insurance coverage's and cannot afford to pay for the unit they need to speak again.
We also donated a sum to the Plainville food bank with an identical amount to the Saint Mark's church.
Thankfully, with few new individuals requiring the laryngectomee operation over the past few years, at our area hospitals, our group diminished with attendees requiring the support of the BSLC has been known to provide for past sixty years.
I personally wish to thank you for the privileged to serve you as your president and hope you all enjoy the upcoming holidays and have a prosperous and healthy New Year.
The BSLC Blog will continue posting information that is of interest to the larygectomee way of life therefore, I recommend your checking our website from time to time at http://bslc2.blogspot.com.
Sincerely,
Frank Smith
We purchased refurbished electrolarynxes for the new laryngectomees that do not have sufficient insurance coverage's and cannot afford to pay for the unit they need to speak again.
We also donated a sum to the Plainville food bank with an identical amount to the Saint Mark's church.
Thankfully, with few new individuals requiring the laryngectomee operation over the past few years, at our area hospitals, our group diminished with attendees requiring the support of the BSLC has been known to provide for past sixty years.
I personally wish to thank you for the privileged to serve you as your president and hope you all enjoy the upcoming holidays and have a prosperous and healthy New Year.
The BSLC Blog will continue posting information that is of interest to the larygectomee way of life therefore, I recommend your checking our website from time to time at http://bslc2.blogspot.com.
Sincerely,
Frank Smith
Thursday, December 2, 2010
Manchester Group's Meeting Anouncement
Oral, Head and Neck Cancer Support Group.
It's Meeting will be held December 6, 2010 at 7 P M at the John DeQuattro Cancer Center, 100 Haynes Street, Manchester, Ct.
It's Meeting will be held December 6, 2010 at 7 P M at the John DeQuattro Cancer Center, 100 Haynes Street, Manchester, Ct.
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