SECRET LIGGETT DOCUMENTS SHOW RACIAL PANDERING [04/02]

Still secret insider documents flowing from the Liggett cigarette settlement show that the industry not only pandered to different racial and ethnic groups; it also indulged in demeaning stereotypes about their attitudes.

"There must be a racial slant in the marketing efforts" directed towards minorities, argued an industry memo from Arthur Little, suggesting that "Spanish and Negro groups like to purchase only the best of everything and they are not looking for bargains." The same apparently is not true with regard to Jews, according to the same memo, since "while in the case of a the Jewish market, this is not a requirement."

This could have the same impact on upcoming law suits involving the tobacco industry as taped racial slurs had on Texaco, suggests law professor John Banzhaf, Executive Director of Action on Smoking and Health (ASH).

In other memo from Liggett, the company considered using synthetic ingredients to increase the impact of smoking on cigarette purchasers, "without the severe toxicity of nicotine itself.

This memo, says Banzhaf, makes it more likely that the court will uphold the regulation of cigarettes by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), since their jurisdiction is based on the argument that the industry knew about the addictive effects of nicotine and sought to manipulate it to hook smokers.

The overall effect of these and other Liggett documents, suggests Banzhaf, will be to further outrage jurors, and make it even more likely that they will return verdicts -- including punitive damages -- against tobacco defendants. The Liggett documents will be particularly damaging, he predicts, because Liggett officials will not only verify their authenticity in court; they will also testify that they accurately reflected the industry position at the time.

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