A Sao Paulo court denied claims for indemnification brought by a smokers association in a class action suit filed against cigarette manufacturers Souza Cruz and Philip Morris' Brazil subsidiary, reports PRNewswire.

The Association for the Defence of the Health of Smokers (ADESF) in 1995 sought indemnification for all the "smoking consumers" it alleged to represent, based on the argument that manufacturers' advertising had been misleading and abusive. It was the first lawsuit seeking indemnification for damages attributed to smoking cigarettes filed in the country.
Due to the class action nature of the claim, an unprecedented medical court expert examination was carried out (analysing epidemiological aspects of all diseases associated with cigarette smoking), as well as an extensive court expert analysis of advertising that, by explicit ruling of the Court of Appeals of Sao Paulo, covered the last 30 years of advertising of the two defendants in Brazil.
Summarizing, the medical expert concluded that cigarette smoking is a multifactorial behaviour and that "it is not possible to determine in advance if a smoker will develop some type of disease or not, but only to point out the existence of risk factors." The advertising expert, among other aspects, confirmed that "the use of tobacco in all its forms dates back to ancient time, more ancient than advertising," and that "advertising is not the only determining factor in an individual's choice to smoke or not."
The judge of the 19th Civil Court of Sao Paulo denied the claims for indemnification, emphasizing "it has been a well known fact for decades that cigarettes are harmful to the health of smokers" and that, "even though smoking cigarettes causes health risks, there is no prohibition against their manufacture and sale. On the contrary, commerce in cigarettes is a legal activity, permitted in our legal order." (pi)