With masks on their faces and fear in their eyes, people in China and Hong Kong look like aliens. But the deadly SARS virus kills victims within hours. Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome is an atypical inflammation of the lungs not previously known to humans.
The masks that people in Southeast Asia are wearing serve to prevent the transmission of the deadly airborne virus. In China alone around 4,500 people have contracted the disease until now and more than 250 have died. The infection has also appeared in Canada.
While people in many parts of the world try to stay as far away from each other as possible and wear protective masks, we retain a habit that could become lethal if — God forbid — the virus were to be transmitted to this country and the Arab world in general.
It is the habit of kissing: at weddings, funerals, social gatherings, meetings on the street or at traffic lights. These kisses may transmit an innumerable number of respiratory illnesses and perhaps other types of illnesses as well.
In the Arab world, whenever two men meet, kisses are exchanged. I always wonder, why aren’t we content to greet each other with words instead?
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What is the source of the huge power wielded by the big tobacco companies in the United States? They are allowed to survive and make a good amount of money, despite the numerous lawsuits filed against them on the grounds that they are responsible for the sale of a lethal product that also carries serious health risks? Despite the popular and official opposition faced by these giants, they have turned into an indestructible mythical creature.
In the year 1944 and in front of a US congressional committee — reputable persons from the biggest tobacco companies swore that the nicotine found in cigarettes is addictive and that they had knowledge of that for a number of years.
“Cornered: Big Tobacco at the Bar of Justice” is the title of a book by Peter Pringle in which he tells of the 50-plus-year-old conspiracy that brings the conspirators huge profits from the sale of a lethal product. The author says that in 1995 alone, 300 lawsuits were filed in which the victims demanded compensation for the damage caused by smoking. Expert legal maneuvering got these companies off the hook; they were able to slither out of all of them and didn’t have to pay any compensation.
The author reveals that in 1997 a change occurred in the tobacco companies’ stand and they agreed to sponsor advertising campaigns warning of the dangers of smoking and its effects. There was a reason, of course, for this change and it rested on an employee at one of the bigger legal offices assigned to one of these cases. He stole important documents that proved the companies’ collusion in harming people’s health in exchange for financial gain.
Through these cases the author reveals how lawyers are showcasing their talent not by defending the victims of smoking but by defending the tobacco companies. The lawyers of more than 500 legal establishments working for tobacco companies play a starring role in a dirty business whose profits exceed $600 million annually. These profits are generated by lawsuits.
In conclusion, the author calls on those working in the tobacco industry to read his book — in the hope that the downfall of these giant companies who make their living off people’s health might come from the inside now that all other means have failed.
Arab News Features 25 April 2003
