The Warrick v. RJ Reynolds tobacco trial is being webcast live by CVN.
Eveline Warrick started smoking at age 13 in 1949. She later suffered chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, and eventually died of lung cancer.
According to Bob Shields, of Doffermyre Shields, the tobacco defendants made a knowing choice for over 50 years to engage in a massive campaign of denial and deceit about the hazards of smoking.
Mrs. Warrick accepted some responsibility for her smoking, said Shields. However, according to Mr. Shields, in order to judge Mrs. Warrick we have to go back to the time in which she smoked, and to understand the culture of that time, and to know what she knew then. She didn't know that cigarette smoking was a health hazard, said Shields, but the defendants knew.
Shields explained that Mrs. Warrick tried to quit smoking for over a decade, in the 1990's, after she contracted COPD in 1991, and she eventually quit in 2001. Nonetheless, lung cancer was diagnosed in 2009, and Mrs. Warrick died in February, 2010.
Watch CVN's live webcast of Warrick v. RJ Reynolds.
