Recently Japan Tobacco Inc. (JT) and the state were successful in their defense against a damages suit in which three people had sought ¥10 million each for health problems — cancer and pulmonary emphysema — allegedly caused by smoking. Still, the Jan. 20 Yokohama District Court ruling, which the plaintiffs appealed Feb. 1, includes points that JT and the government should seriously consider.

The ruling covered the period from 1947 to 1993, when the three smoked. (One is already dead.) Dismissing the compensation requests, the ruling said it is difficult to conclude that JT was aware during that period that an unspecified large number of people would suffer from tobacco-related diseases and die.

It cited facts advantageous to JT: that, like consumption of alcohol, smoking is a voluntary decision; that the tobacco package warns users to "Be careful about smoking too much;" and that JT's position as a tobacco products producer has legal backing.