Tobacco fault for catching cancer, please answer?

Question

I know tobacco is a dangerous product and kills many people and so forth. But the people who smoke should they or their family have the right to sue the tobacco company for to compensatory and punitive damages. If you smoke which is an individual choice and catch cancer and die or worse, why should your family be compensated millions of dollars. I understand the aggressive marketing to people but it’s your choice to smoke. I pose this question b/c I have business ethics and learning about different theorist like Locke, Hayek, Smith, Marx, Friedman and so forth. People who smoke is it the tobacco companies fault with false and misleading advertisement that caused them to begin smoking or is it still a personal choice. Like those two fat girls that tried to sue McDonalds b/c eating MD made them fat. Should MD pay their families in damages b/c it’s was their personal choice. Same way with tobacco I don't want to sound like a republican or a corporate lobbyist but and insight on this question would be helpful. Thx

Answer 1

I am a smoker who was forced as a child to smoke. I know how could that be . I was the but of the joke with my brothers friends. I was not told that it was a joke and that they didn't want me to smoke they thought it was cool to get the seven year old to smoke . Cigarettes are cancer........ They should not be available to anyone at all. I hate that I am a smoker I hate that I can run out to the store and by something that has been proven to be more addicting than haroin.... Maybe in your world we should be able to buy that as well. Yes I do feel that both the government and the tobacco companies should pay for killing our people.....Insted they are getting rich and fat and have the proper health care to ensure they live a long and heathy life. Once again thinning the herd.

Answer 2

I also qualify to answer this, I am a smoker, not proud of it but it does qualify me. No, we all know the risks we take smoking, common sense should tell everyone, sucking in smoke several times a day sure is not going to make you healthier. It is a joke, you know the risks and to try then, to make someone else pay you for killing yourself is ridiculous. It should never make it in the court room, a common sense judge should throw it out the door.
I do have a problem with all the do gooders out there that are trying to tell me I can't smoke. That's my choice to make, no one else's. I can't stop the drinkers, the gamblers, the over weight from eating, etc. Nor would I try, its their choice.
Its plain and simple, I enjoy smoking, for some its drinking and others eating, others gambling. Some people live their life cheating and lying and hurting people with their mouths. I prefer to try and be the best person I can be, but I smoke. If and when that creates me a problem, hey, I brought it on, no one else is responsible for it but me.

Answer 3

first of all, who said tobacco is a 'dangerous' product? so is a car, gun, etc. the list is endless. when a product is misused, all things are dangerous. and i ask you! who held a gun to the head of any of these smokers & forced them to smoke until they developed so-called cancer? huh? their choice alone. look, i'm not a big fan of major industry but facts are facts. what would our country or anybody's country's legal system be like if every drunk, addict, fat person, etc., sued over their 'condition' because the product made them do it. insanity. this is the time for all those parties to step up claim the responsibility for their actions & stop blaming everyone but themselves. by the way, what is cancer? it is a virus that tends to breed a life of it's own. i believe we all have this virus in us but some are born with a weak spot. all they need is a trigger to cause this virus to grow. ascorbic acid & vitamin a/b might just be the deterrents, but that's another story for another time.

Answer 4

I am a smoker so I feel qualified to answer this question.... NO! They should not be permitted to sue the tobacco company. Smoking is a personal choice..If the person choses to buy them, stick one in their mouth, light it and smoke it - he/she has chosen to do so.

And all this crapola about it being addictive is baloney....it is habituative, but not addictive...How do I know this? Many of my friends have quit, cold turkey, and were without any symptoms of craving within a week. My mother smoked for 70 years and decided one day she wasn't going to do it any more - and she didn't - and she didn't have ANY withdrawal symptions... Before you say anything - she lived to be 88 years old....the last 8 years tobacco free...

If I didn't want to smoke, I wouldn't...I enjoy it.

People have to take responsibility for their own choices. You cannot blame McD for "forcing hamburgers down your throat", or Jim Beam for distilling alcohol or Phillip Morris for making cigarettes.

Answer 5

years ago the tobacco companies used to deny it . back then you had a reason to say : you didn't tell me this could happen . now pay me. but today the message comes in loud and clear from all over smoking causes cancer.If you still insist on doing it you can't blame others

Answer 6

you dont "catch" cancer..you develop it...tobacco is proven to be a serious carcinogen...it DOES cause cancer.....I agree its a personal choice to use it but putting it out there knowing its deadly raises all kinds of ethical questions that fat girls suing McDonalds doesnt apply to

Answer 7

did you ever hear the term scapegoat, you don't hear anyother product or substance that causes or leads to certain things, look at all the food additives now days, the pollution in air and the ground think about it. What about campfires they have smoke too.