The smoking gun

“The Government has a £20 billion case against the tobacco companies. They can’t lose. It’s just a matter of collecting it.”

Those are the words of Peter McDonnell, one of Ireland’s most prominent personal injuries solicitors. In 1997 he made Irish legal history when he became the first solicitor in Ireland to represent Irish smokers taking cases against the tobacco industry. Since then he has been to the fore in urging the Government to sue the tobacco industry for the costs borne by the State in healthcare.

“At the moment I have High Court cases ongoing on behalf of 206 people,” he explains. They have various injuries, some have had lungs removed, others have throat cancer, amputations, emphysema and heart disease. I’m suing the tobacco companies for compensation for their injuries. People say it’s a bandwagon but these people are seriously injured and they have no quality of life. They can’t even walk a few feet on their own. Some of my clients are dying as the cases proceed and I’m acting on behalf of the families in 20% of the cases.”

McDonnell has been closely watching recent developments in the US where a jury awarded $81 million in damages against tobacco company Phillip Morris. The case was taken on behalf of the family of a man who died of lung cancer after smoking Marlboros for four decades.

According to McDonnell these and other cases give further momentum to individuals and groups throughout the world who are planning to take cases.

“After we issued our first proceedings three and a half years ago we met the Department of Health. The then Minister of Health, Mr Cowan, asked the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health and Children to investigate what Ireland was going to do about tobacco. The all-party committee reported in December of 1999 and said that Ireland should sue tobacco companies for the money spent on healthcare. So should the VHI, so should Health boards and private hospitals. They also said the Statute of Limitations should be done away with in smoking cases because as the judge in the US said, there’s been a fraudulent conspiracy by the tobacco industry for the past 50 years.”

McDonnell quotes official statistics which state that 6,000 people die from smoking related illnesses here each year while the health service deals with a further 15,000 people.Given these facts and the successful court cases in the US why does McDonnell feel that the Government appear so reluctant to take a case against the tobacco industry?

“There is a political problem in Europe where some countries are pro-tobacco,” he explains “Also the fact that in countries like Spain, Portugal and France, the tobacco companies were once owned by the state. But the current Minister Micheal Martin has done a lot of good work in combating smoking. He’s drafting a bill at the moment which will result in more control of tobacco. He needs to take a step further and sue them. He can’t lose.

“Ireland is leading the way outside of America and I’m leading the way in my personal cases and in trying to drag the Government behind me. There are others taking cases but I was there first and I’ve put five years work into it. I’m over and back to Brussels to Commissioner David Byrne. Any tobacco conferences that take place in America I’m invited over to give presentations on the European angle. And I’m paying this out of my own pocket.”

What prompted McDonnell to become so passionately involved in the fight against the effects of smoking in the first place?

“I started smoking at ten years of age,” he says. “I’d go across the street and buy a Woodbine and a match for a penny. The advertising was all around me; Marlboro Man, Joe Camel they got me smoking the way they were meant to do. I gave up when I was 30 but it wasn’t easy. The Dept of Health statistics will tell you that 85% of people are addicted before the age of 16 which is the legal age at which you can buy cigarettes. Tobacco companies call anyone who doesn’t smoke ‘pre-smokers’ and when they start smoking they call them ‘recruits’. Their target market isn’t 50 year-olds, it’s the nine and 10-year-olds. People become addicted and some people can’t get off them. Some scientists say tobacco is four times more addictive then heroin.

“The tobacco companies knew what we know today; that they’re addictive and that they give you diseases and kill. But up until 1999 Philip Morris denied that they were addictive and that they made people ill. In my own cases they will say that there’s no proof that the cigarettes caused the lung cancer. They’ll say it was the diet, the lifestyle, working in the factory, everything but the smoking. It’s obvious to everyone medical or otherwise that smoking causes serious injury but they’ll continue to deny it.”

The election of George W Bush to the White House is, according to McDonnell a setback in the fight against the tobacco industry.

“Bush is their man in the White House. He’s pro tobacco. He received $7million officially from the tobacco industry for his campaign. Clinton was the opposite. In president Clinton’s State of the Union address in January 1999 he said the Federal Government would pursue the tobacco companies. That came as a bombshell to them. He got Janet Reno the Attorney General to start the ball rolling, which she did. They brought in a law firm from Minnesota who drafted a law suit under a racketeering statute which was originally brought in to combat the Mafia. That’s how strongly the Clinton administration felt.

“But Bush has now cut their budget down to nothing, which makes them powerless at the moment. It was very unfortunate from our side that Mr Bush got into the White House.”

Meanwhile McDonnell’s battle against the tobacco industry continues apace and he expects to be involved in the fight for years to come

“The case is taking shape and we’re suing specific tobacco companies,” he explains. “We’ve been in and out of court on skirmishes. But it involves an unbelievable amount of work and unless you’re totally committed to it, you can’t do it. Which is why the Minister needs to push the button now.”