# General Discussion > Opinions >  Light Cigarette smokers sue tobacco companies

## Glenn

This story aired on NPR Friday, May 14 (scroll down to the "'Light' Cigarette Lawsuit Could Gain Class-Action Status" link). Personally, I think that this is ridiculous, and I even smoke (although I am currently trying to quit). I can't imagine anyone posing this argument without feeling like a complete ass, but I guess I am wrong. If you smoke, then you definitely know the risks inherent in the act. To claim ignorance is equivalent to claiming retardation as far as I am concerned. There is no way that anyone on Earth could not know of the dangers caused by smoking, no matter how light or heavy the cigarette. Please tell me that I am not alone in thinking this way, and that these people should feel as though they are letting down the human race for putting forth such arguments.

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## jeisan

i think these peoples ignorance stems from thinking "light" cigarettes are less harmful that regular cigs, when in fact, the opposite is true. there are more chemicals in the "light" cigarette to make it "light." though ignorance is not an excuse...

either way smoking is smoking and its a choice. people really need to take responsibility for their own actions.

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## Glenn

I agree wholeheartedly with you jeisan. Perhaps this is America's obsession with the "it's not my fault" attitude. I personally find that kind of thinking repulsive.

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## Lina Inverse

Geez, how can you be so extremely retarded!?  :Shocked: 
That's the same as if you go out on the street, intentionally jump right in front of a car going at full speed and then sue the card driver for your injuries  :Laughing: 
Such braindead law suits are really only possible in the US, where not the law decides if you're right or wrong, but only how good your lawyer is  :Mad: 
There've bee already a whole lot of extremely freaky law suits, e.g.:
- In a toy store, a woman falls over a child crawling around in the store and breaks her foot. She files a suit against the toy store and gets a compensation of $100,000 (iirc). Not enough that this is already very stupid by itself, it was her own child she fell over!
- In a fast food restaurant, a woman has a quarrel with her partner and sheds her drink into his face. Shortly tehreafter, she slips on exactly the same drink she just shedded and breaks her coccyx. She then sues the restaurant and gets paid a compensation of $25,000.
- A man is on tour in his winnebago. During driving on the highway, he leaves the driver's seat to make himself a coffee. Of course, this results in an accident. He then files a suit against the manufacturer of the winnebago and wins. The manufacturer has to provide him with a new state-of-the-art winnebago and additionally has to pay a compensation of $250,000 - just because he didn't write in the manual that you must not leave the driver's seat during driving.
That's just the tip of the iceberg... a lot of Americans apparently can't even spell "common sense". This becomes also evident from the warnings on toilets in one county of the US reading "Do not drink"  :Okashii: 
Stop laughing - it's true! I'm not making this up!

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## Budderfly

No. You made the choice to light up. We're educated enough to know smoking is bad for you.

Same thing with people wanting to sue Fast Food companies cause they got fat.
They told you what's in it and you chose to eat it.

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## kirei_na_me

Well, what I found interesting was that my Japanese friends couldn't understand why you were supposed to stop smoking while pregnant. They couldn't understand what the was harmful about cigarettes?  :Confused:  When one of them got pregnant, she would smoke, but wouldn't take her prenatal vitamins. A little twisted?

But anyway, I agree with you, Glenn. It's ridiculous to claim ingorance when it's all over the news, commercials, in school, etc. It's common knowledge.

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## Elizabeth

Apparently a lot of kids when they start know the health dangers but not how quickly you can become addicted and aren't able to quit in the few months or years like they'd planned. I'm not sure -- I've never smoked myself and don't know anyone in this situation.

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## bossel

> There've bee already a whole lot of extremely freaky law suits, e.g.:


Something like this may even be possible in the US, but the 3 stories you mentioned are actually urban legends:
http://www.snopes.com/legal/lawsuits.asp
I wonder, why these stories were made up, though. There should be enough strange law suits to go by. But that's not a problem of people who actually sue, I think. It's more a problem of the legal system in the US. A reform could be useful, else sooner or later every restaurant would have to put up such signs as you mentioned.

Regarding smoking, I think, it's also a problem of education & peer pressure. Peer pressure seems one of the major reasons to start smoking. If children are educated to be independent & think for themselves, as well as to be tolerant to others who don't want to follow the pack, this should pose much less of a problem.
Else, if you are susceptible to peer pressure you might just start smoking although you know it's unhealthy & although you don't like the taste of it.

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## Glenn

> Else, if you are susceptible to peer pressure you might just start smoking although you know it's unhealthy & although you don't like the taste of it.


Even still one would have to realize that it was his own decision that led to him smoking. To not admit that is delusional and irresponsible. We all succumb to peer pressure at some point on issues that range in gravity, but at the same time we should understand that it was still _our_ decision to do what we did; no one _made_ us do it. If people can't understand that then they are in for a miserable life, I think.

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## RockLee

It is true though that in the US there are TOO many people sueing companies everyday and win because the system is ****** up and the lawyers are good...well I ask myself one question then...why don't I go to America and make some quick bucks??!!!!  :Laughing:

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## Glenn

Yeah, and I thought that the trend was dying. Well, it does seem to be down from what it was in the early '90's, but it looks as though it's still alive and well. Sometimes I feel as if I am drowning in a sea of idiots.  :Erm:

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