Did The Tobacco Master Settlement Pave The Way For Vaping?

Did The Tobacco Master Settlement Pave The Way For Vaping?

Smoking is one of the single biggest killers of people in the world in terms of preventable deaths and is a risk factor in many of the most common causes of death in the world.

What makes tobacco so dangerous and so damaging is that you do not necessarily even have to smoke yourself in order to make yourself vulnerable to the dangers; regularly hanging around smoke-filled areas can be almost as harmful as lighting up yourself.

All of this is well-known of course, and the vast majority of people who buy vape kits are former smokers wanting a familiar way to quit alongside or instead of nicotine replacement therapies.

In fact, not only is it common knowledge and has been for over half a century that smoking is inherently harmful and guaranteed to shorten your life, but it is also a matter of legal record.

In 1998, potentially the single biggest legal settlement in human history was agreed with a total value in excess of $206bn (£169bn), something that is a drop in the bucket for the scale of misery, pain and death caused by Big Tobacco.

However, did it potentially pave the way for a better, safer alternative?

The Year The Truth Came Out

The dangers of smoking have been written about and researched since the early 20th century, although given that tobacco use dates as far back as the ancient world, it is likely that the harms caused by smoking were known long before this.

However, the British Doctors Study found a statistical link between smoking and lung cancer, which began to confirm what many had already suspected about the harm caused by cigarettes.

Up to this point, cigarettes were a central part of many different cultures and subcultures; it was seen as mature and sophisticated and was even advertised with endorsements by doctors as healthy.

Cartoons such as The Flintstones even advertised cigarette brands, something that became hauntingly ironic when the first voice actor for Fred Flintstone died from complications of smoking in 1967.

It was perhaps the biggest open secret and would build to become one of the most disgraceful public health scandals in history, far greater than thalidomide or asbestos in terms of overall harm caused.

However, whilst legal cases against tobacco manufacturers began as early as the release of studies confirming the link, and only intensified following the American Surgeon General’s warning, very few of them managed to win.

Only two of the over 800 claims were successful, and even those two successes were overturned on appeal. This not only harmed the individual plaintiffs whose lives had been ruined by tobacco addiction and its ravaging effects but also provided a precedent for defence and plausible deniability.

Whilst the evidence of harm was overwhelming and continued to build, tobacco companies could claim that nothing has changed and if they were innocent in 1954, they were innocent in 1994 for the same accusations.

However, that began to change in 1994, when 46 states in the USA sued for damages on the basis that cigarettes caused a health crisis which they must therefore pay for, and alleged deception and fraud at such a significant level that their previous defences were null and void.

They could no longer claim that they were simply offering a product that people make the personal choice to consume and therefore assume the responsibility for its harmful side effects; they were accused of tricking customers into thinking cigarettes were safer than they were.

There might be some merit to these claims, given that at the same time, the infamous Project SCUM targeted LGBTQ people, young people, the homeless and other minority groups and subcultures.

The name supposedly stood for “Subculture Urban Marketing” but the supervillain-level brazenness of the RJ Reynolds of the initiative and the backlash that ensued made the tobacco industry realise that these were not cases they could win.

This led to what is known as the Master Settlement Agreement; in exchange for avoiding class-action lawsuits and a cap on litigation costs, tobacco companies would pay at least $206bn but potentially far more than this depending on cigarette sales.

This money would go towards anti-tobacco campaigns such as Truth, as well as placing heavy restrictions on tobacco advertising, branding and sponsorship.

It also placed a much heavier focus on tools that will help people to quit smoking, which included gum, patches and eventually vapes, which became one of the dominant tools used to help people quit smoking.

Whilst there are criticisms that the tobacco industry got away lightly, cigarette sales plummeted far quicker than anyone expected, something that has only intensified with the rise of vaping.