February 12, 1998 - A researcher on smoking and health resumes his testimony today that smoking is the chief cause of lung cancer. Johns Hopkins physician and researcher Jon Samet told jurors lung cancer deaths in Minnesota have increased ten-fold in the past 40 years. Minnesota Public Radio's Elizabeth Stawicki reports.
February 11, 1998 - State's attorneys in the Minnesota tobacco trial say they'll have more ammunition against the industry following a special master's recommendation yesterday. The special master recommended the judge order the release of more files the tobacco companies said were protected under attorney/client privilege. Minnesota Public Radio's Elizabeth Stawicki reports.
February 10, 1998 - The head of the only tobacco company to publicly acknowlege smoking is addictive and causes health problems resumes his testimony today in Minnesota's tobacco trial. Liggett CEO Bennett Lebow testified Monday that it's absurd for the industry to deny otherwise. Liggett has settled out of court with the state but is still a defendant against Blue Cross Blue Shield. Minnesota Public Radio's Elizabeth Stawicki reports.
February 5, 1998 - An expert witness in Minnesota's tobacco trial told jurors at least one cigarette company genetically altered tobacco plants so they'd produce twice the amount of nicotine. Minnesota public radio's Elizabeth Stawicki reports.
February 4, 1998 - An expert witness in Minnesota's tobacco trial says secret industry files show tobacco companies viewed themselves as drug companies and acknowleged they would be out of business if nicotine was taken out of cigarettes. Tobacco industry attorneys are expected to cross examine Stanford chemical engineering professor Channing Robertson today. Minnesota public radio's Elizabeth Stawicki reports.
February 3, 1998 - A chemical engineering professor is set to testify about the ingredients in cigarettes today at Minnesota's tobacco trial. Minnesota public radio's Elizabeth Stawicki reports: The State's lead attorney is expected to call Channing Robertson--a Stanford University Chemical Engineering professor. Robertson has testified as an expert witness in a number of other trials including a southern California toxic waste case and lawsuits involving I-U-D birth control devices. Later in the week attorneys are expected to call to the stand Walker Merryman who directs the tobacco industry's public relations and lobbying group--The Tobacco Institute. Also set to testify--Bennett LeBow who heads Liggett tobacco Liggett has settled its case with the State of Minnesota but not
January 30, 1998 - Minnesota's tobacco trial has adjourned for the day ending a week of damaging testimony against the tobacco industry. The state and Blue Cross Blue Shield Minnesota are suing the major tobacco companies on charges they defrauded the public by concealing information that smoking can kill. Minnesota public radio's Elizabeth Stawicki reports.
January 30, 1998 - Tobacco attorneys will cross examine a Mayo Clinic physician today in Minnesota's trial. Internal memos released yesterday paint a picture of an industry that capitalized on a smoker's craving for nicotine even though tobacco companies knew smoking caused lung cancer 40 years ago. They also show the industry led a campaign to reassure smokers that smoking wasn't harmful. Minnesota public radio's Elizabeth Stawicki reports: The papers reveal how British American Tobacco or batco scientists in the 1950's visited numerous individual researchers in the U-S and Canada to find out what they knew about smoking and cancer. From those meetings BATCO concluded smoking caused lung cancer. That was 1958... 36 years before a group of tobacco company C-E-O's testified before congress that smoking was not addictive and did not cause cancer.
January 28, 1998 - The first day of testimony begins today in Minnesota's tobacco trial. The State will call a Mayo clinic researcher as its first witness. Dr Richard Hurt is expected to testify about nicotine and addiction. Minnesota public radio's Elizabeth Stawicki reports.
January 28, 1998 - Sandy Keith retires as Minnesota's Chief Justice tomorrow (Thursday). The Rochester native is one of the few who've helped shape Minnesota from all three branches of government--as state senator, lieutenant governor and supreme court justice. Minnesota Public Radio's Elizabeth Stawicki has this profile of the outgoing chief justice. In 1946 Sandy Keith tried to shake off the dirt from what he called the hick town of Rochester and move on to bigger and better things. Keith, the son of a mayo clinic physician, headed east and obtained degrees from Amherst and Yale. After a stint as a Marine lieutenant during the Korean war, Keith returned to Rochester taking a job as an attorney in Mayo Clinic's legal department. His boss was Harry Blackmun who would later become a U-S Supreme Court Justice. Politics was always a topic of discussion in his parents' household but Keith's interest flared in the 1950's when he won a seat in the state senate. Don