Common sense anyone?

[Russ]

http://www.sky.com/skynews/article/0...813839,00.html

After reading the above, I had a thought. I live about 3 miles from the coast. If I went to the beach, in to the water and held my breath til I went all limp, could my family sue the coastgaurd for not putting up signs saying "Do not hold your breath underwater for longer than is neccessary"?

[Shaun]

Originally Posted by Russ D

http://www.sky.com/skynews/article/0...813839,00.html

After reading the above, I had a thought. I live about 3 miles from the coast. If I went to the beach, in to the water and held my breath til I went all limp, could my family sue the coastgaurd for not putting up signs saying "Do not hold your breath underwater for longer than is neccessary"?

I did think it was a bit of a weak case. It doesn't take many brain cells to work out that if you breath in smoke (of any kind) you die

[Steve H]

Its the "Lets sue all" attitude that everyones got...People need to take responsibility for there own actions, instead of crippling companies all the time.

Though crippling the tobacco companies isnt a bad idea!

[Stuart W]

Sorry, I felt I had to play devils advocate on this one...

OK, does anyone remember what cigarette advertising was like in the 50's?

We actually had adverts or 'information programmes' to tell us that smoking was good for your health, helping the lungs (of all things!) was one of the biggest bonuses!

This guy started smoking when it was considered 'cool', not just by his peers, but by the general medical council too.

OK, in today's society, you'd be hard pushed to convince anyone that you can smoke with no ill-effects to your health, because we have so much information about the dangers of smoking thrust down our throats on a daily basis.

So, I think the thing to think about here is how long ago he started and what his genuine beliefs were at that point.

If in 50 yrs time we are told that Milk is geneticaly dangerous, would you like to be told that you cannot do anything to sue the dairy's because everyone knows Milk is geneticaly dangerous?

NOTE: The milk thing is a scenario, milk is perfectly safe to drink. For now.

Originally Posted by Steve_NTL

Its the "Lets sue all" attitude that everyones got...People need to take responsibility for there own actions, instead of crippling companies all the time.

Though crippling the tobacco companies isnt a bad idea!

Totally agree with your first point Steve. I work in the food industry, we try really hard to come up with an accurate ingredients list - but now have to put a warning that fish fingers contain raw fish on the pack for some customers. - Russ is right about "common sense".

But cripple the tobacco companies - lose all that tax money short term, but offset it against health benefits long term - that is another discussion

- declaring an interest I do smoke:o

[Shaun]

Stu, there are people out there now that are trying to make out that the Atkins diet is good for you, and that you should gorge yourself on fatty foods. ANYONE with a little common sense knows that this is not gonna be good for you.

People need to THINK before they do stuff. If I slash my wrists with a knife, can I sue the company that made it because it doesn't say not to on the handle! NO.

I'm sorry for her loss, but it is down to the husband for smoking not the company's for selling/advertising ciggys.

By the way I don't smoke and think we should introduce a rolling age limit on them to make them illegal.

Originally Posted by Stuart W

Sorry, I felt I had to play devils advocate on this one...

OK, does anyone remember what cigarette advertising was like in the 50's?

We actually had adverts or 'information programmes' to tell us that smoking was good for your health, helping the lungs (of all things!) was one of the biggest bonuses!

This guy started smoking when it was considered 'cool', not just by his peers, but by the general medical council too.

OK, in today's society, you'd be hard pushed to convince anyone that you can smoke with no ill-effects to your health, because we have so much information about the dangers of smoking thrust down our throats on a daily basis.

So, I think the thing to think about here is how long ago he started and what his genuine beliefs were at that point.

If in 50 yrs time we are told that Milk is geneticaly dangerous, would you like to be told that you cannot do anything to sue the dairy's because everyone knows Milk is geneticaly dangerous?

NOTE: The milk thing is a scenario, milk is perfectly safe to drink. For now.

[Steve H]

Originally Posted by dellwear

Stu, there are people out there now that are trying to make out that the Atkins diet is good for you, and that you should gorge yourself on fatty foods. ANYONE with a little common sense knows that this is not gonna be good for you.

People need to THINK before they do stuff. If I slash my wrists with a knife, can I sue the company that made it because it doesn't say not to on the handle! NO.

I'm sorry for her loss, but it is down to the husband for smoking not the company's for selling/advertising ciggys.

I agree - And she should know that too, as she's decided to take up the case now.. Maybe if she'd attacked this when the company was actually promoting ciggy's in this way then.. she might have a case.

I dont think having a rolling age limit on cigs will make much difference.. My mates have all been smoking since about 12-13, and never had any trouble getting em.

[Xaccers]

Originally Posted by dellwear

Stu, there are people out there now that are trying to make out that the Atkins diet is good for you, and that you should gorge yourself on fatty foods. ANYONE with a little common sense knows that this is not gonna be good for you.

But the atkins diet doesn't tell you to gorge on fatty foods.
It says to cut out carbs which your body turns into fat.
Go back 50 years or so and most people were on the atkins diet, and heart disease and obecity were far lower than today.

Originally Posted by Stuart W

Sorry, I felt I had to play devils advocate on this one...

Don't apologise, if you hadn't written that message I would have!

The tobacco companies have long known that they are selling (or pushing!) a product which is both addictive and harmful to the user.

They haven't done anything about it because, to do anything would just have left the open to claims that they knew about the dangers earlier. (If you market a cigarette which you claim is "safer" it clearly admits that they knew the old one was "unsafe")

They are now just engaging in desperate "rear guard" actions such as, as it mentions at the end of that report:

"In 1996, a judge cleared the way for Mrs McTear to continue her case after rejecting Imperial Tobacco's demand that she pay £2m in legal fees before suing them. The company had claimed research needed to defend the case would have cost £2m and take two years to complete."

This is blatantly an attempt to try to scare people out of suing, by threatening them with huge legal bills. American tobacco companies have already used these and every other possible legal (and not so legal) delaying tactic they can to protect their profits as long as possible.

[Shaun]

Originally Posted by Xaccers

But the atkins diet doesn't tell you to gorge on fatty foods.
It says to cut out carbs which your body turns into fat.
Go back 50 years or so and most people were on the atkins diet, and heart disease and obecity were far lower than today.

Go back 50 years and most people didn't lead sedentary lives and died ALOT younger.

[Stuart W]

Originally Posted by dellwear

Stu, there are people out there now that are trying to make out that the Atkins diet is good for you, and that you should gorge yourself on fatty foods. ANYONE with a little common sense knows that this is not gonna be good for you.

People need to THINK before they do stuff. If I slash my wrists with a knife, can I sue the company that made it because it doesn't say not to on the handle! NO.

I'm sorry for her loss, but it is down to the husband for smoking not the company's for selling/advertising ciggys.

By the way I don't smoke and think we should introduce a rolling age limit on them to make them illegal.

You are missing the point.
I agree that due to education we now all know smoking to be bad, but 50+ years ago, we wern't so well informed.

Or to put it another way, do you think we should drop the "SMOKING KILLS" on every pack, because we all know it does?

Originally Posted by Graham

Don't apologise, if you hadn't written that message I would have!

The tobacco companies have long known that they are selling (or pushing!) a product which is both addictive and harmful to the user.

They haven't done anything about it because, to do anything would just have left the open to claims that they knew about the dangers earlier. (If you market a cigarette which you claim is "safer" it clearly admits that they knew the old one was "unsafe")

They are now just engaging in desperate "rear guard" actions such as, as it mentions at the end of that report:

"In 1996, a judge cleared the way for Mrs McTear to continue her case after rejecting Imperial Tobacco's demand that she pay £2m in legal fees before suing them. The company had claimed research needed to defend the case would have cost £2m and take two years to complete."

This is blatantly an attempt to try to scare people out of suing, by threatening them with huge legal bills. American tobacco companies have already used these and every other possible legal (and not so legal) delaying tactic they can to protect their profits as long as possible.

Can we talk about hot McDonald's coffee again ... go on, canwecanwecanwe ... pleeeze ...

[ian@huth]

I have been smoking since I was a teenager and will probably die of a smoking related disease. Which manufacturer should I sue and how can I prove that it was that manufacturers cigarettes that caused the problems.

[Stuart W]

Originally Posted by dellwear

Go back 50 years and most people didn't lead sedentary lives and died ALOT younger.

Go back fifty years and you'd be rich, having been the first person to travel through time :p

Seriously though... go back 50 years and all the cuts of meat we buy today would look somewhat different. We had only just got over rationing food. Most kids had only just seen bananas.

We were told smoking was good for us and it would make our lungs healthy.

Go back a little further and you would have been told to put butter on a burn!

[Jerrek]

Only half a million pounds? That is peanuts. We have lawsuits going through at $28 billion...