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Scion of tobacco company says product liability fight will succeed By Bruce Mohl Globe Staff Patrick J. Reynolds, grandson of the founder of the R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co., said yesterday it is a "statistical certainty" that one of the 145 product liability cases pending against tobacco compan ies will succeed. Reynolds, an actor who gave the cigarettes which are sold bear appropriate voluntary warnings, such as the words `highly addic tive' and `Danger: Lethai Poison' neatly positioned above ^ skull and crossbones." The conference drew about 40 attorneys and health specialists from all over the country who are interested in promoting product li ability lawsuits against tobacco up smoking two years ago and has companies. The cases are similar since become an outspoken oppo to the asbestos cases of the 1970s nent of cigarette companies, was and early 1980s, which forced the keynote speaker at the third companies such as Johns Man- annual conference of the Tobacco ville into bankruptcy. Asbestos Products Liability Project at has been found to cause cancer. Northeastern University. He said No tobacco company has been a court victory would spur even found guilty, although few cases more lawsuits and force tobacco have gone to trial. Officials con companies to shoulder part of the nected with the tobacco industry financial and health insurance could not be reached yesterday, costs of smoking-related illnesses. but their claim in the past has "It will take the price [of a pack been that smokers are well aware of cigarettes] out of the reach of of the health dangers of smoking. young teen-agers and preteens, Daniel Childs, a Philadelphia thereby preventing another gen attorney bringing a class-action eration from getting hooked,'\ asbestos suit on behalf of almost Reynolds said. "And it will make' 1,500 Workers, said a judge's rul ing on apportioning damages in his case forced him to also file suit against several tobacco compan ies. He said he now hopes to get the asbestos and tobacco compan ies fighting each other to deter mine who should pay damages to his clients. w In the course of his research on the case, Childs said he uncovered patents from the early 1960s indi cating that tobacco firms used as bestos to help reduce the burn temperature of their cigarettes. He also said a Texas attorney at the conference gave him a depo sition from another case indicat ing that a lab analysts of a Camel cigarette last year found more than 19 million fibers of asbestos. ``I thought it happened 25 years ago." Childs said of the use of asbestos In cigarettes. "The 1986 version is something very re cent and very shocking." Other lawyers at the confer ence, however, said such lab tests are often unreliable. They also said similar cigarette tests else where found no evidence of asbes tos. Ronald M. Davis; an official at the US Centers for Disease Control In Atlanta and a member of the board of trustees of the American Medical Association, gave a pre sentation on the use of advertising by tobacco companies. The AMA last year proposed a ban on all cigarette advertising. Davis presented statistics indi cating spending by tobacco com panies on advertising and promo tion has increased from $300 mil lion in 1974 to more than $2.1 bil lion in 1984. He charged that ciga rette companies have tried to in crease sales of low-tar and nico tine cigarettes to stop health-con scious smokers from quitting. He said his research indicated the companies increasingly were directing their advertising at bluecollar workers. Highlighting a quotation from one tobacco indus try official about the emphasis on blue-collar .workers, Davis said, "It's almost as if he's admitting that you have to be stupid to smoke ... Wouldn't it be interest ing to ask him about that on the stand?" David also criticized cigarette advertising aimed at teen-agers and a recent joint promotion by RJR Industries, maker of Winston cigarettes, the National Football League and Scripto lighters. Hfi-D4 BCdTOH UJAl i{[>: 514.0 J.. .j . d i. * . JANUARY li qnp-i ?? IHTFQMfti Hl~r.Tr NCS.7 j CARDIOLOGY NEU'J jEHI-HONRl.V 3ANUARY 14 138 7 Low-Level Asbestos May Be Promoter, but Not Cause of Lung Ca MONTREAL -- The absence of ex cess lung cancer cases at low levels of exposure suggests that asbestos is a promoter but may not be a carcinogen as such. Dr. Kevin Browne said at an international conference on environ mental lung disease sponsored by the American College of Chest Physicians. Evidence from radiology, pathology, and animal studies points to interstitial fibrosis as the actual link between as bestos exposure and lung cancer. "The picture is remarkably consistent: Ex cess lung cancer only occurs in the presence of asbestosis," said Dr. Browne, of the department of occupa tional medicine at Brampton Hospital, London. Results of eight studies of asbestos- exposed industrial workers suggest a threshold of exposure below which the relative risk of lung cancer does not increase. This contradicts the once widely held belief that the doseresponse relationship between asbestos and lung cancer remains linear at all levels of exposure, he said. In a study of workers in an extremely dusty factory in Paterson, N.J., no in crease in lung cancer above expected incidence was found among workers employed there for less than 6 months. Data from a number of sources indi cate an exposure threshold below which lung cancer risk does not increase, in I f; Dr. Browne the area of 25 fibers per milliliter of air for 1 year or equivalent. "Asbestos is very inert. At worst, it may be a pro moter, but not a carcinogen," he said. Results of human and animal studies imply that interstitial fibrosis may be more directly linked to increased lung cancer risk. Fibrosis, even when urirelated to asbestos exposure, is strongly associated with malignancy. The most plausible biologic mecha nism might link bronchoalveolar hyper plasia to neoplastic change. "Chronictissue regeneration seems to be the im portant point, not a specific carcinogen. "A reappraisal of the role of respira ble fibers in increasing lung cancer risk is needed," Dr. Browne said. HWBUI0006325