et al. v. Philip Morris Incorporated Broin et al.

The case was the first against the tobacco industry for damages claimed from secondhand smoke. The trial served to greatly increase public awareness of the potentially serious health effects of secondhand smoke. The trial also provided surprising testimony by one tobacco company for the first time publicly admitting the health hazards of smoking tobacco. Efforts were increased in limiting exposure of the public, and particularly children, to secondhand smoke exposure.

Tobacco is a plant long used by humans in North America. American Indians smoked tobacco, a plant native to the New World, well before contact with European cultures. Commercial production of tobacco, which contains small amounts of the stimulant substance nicotine, began in the American colony of Virginia in 1612 where it quickly became an important cash crop. Cigarettes became popular in the 1880s as production technologies came of age. Early during European use of tobacco, health controversies grew. In the sixteenth century some physicians claimed tobacco use should be restricted for medicinal purposes only. The Puritans of New England banned its use. Finally, in 1964 the U.S. Surgeon General released the first official scientific findings highlighting the health hazards of smoking. The tobacco industry was suddenly on the defensive. In 1966, tobacco companies had to place warnings on cigarette packages. In 1971, advertising on radio and television was banned. By the 1980s, concerns over the breathing of the cigarette smoke of others, secondhand smoke, greatly increased. Smoking began to be prohibited in various public places including United States commercial airline flights in 1988.

Secondhand smoke is a mixture of smoke given off by the burning end of a cigarette, pipe, or cigar, and smoke exhaled by smokers. This mixture contains more than 4,000 substances, over 40 of which are known to cause cancer in humans or animals. Exposure to secondhand smoke, also referred to as environmental tobacco smoke (ETS), constituted involuntary smoking. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in a 1993 report estimated 3,000 lung cancer deaths a year due to smoke exposure in American nonsmokers. According to the report, ETS exposure increased the risk of lower respiratory tract infections, including bronchitis and pneumonia. The EPA estimated ETS exposure affected between 150,000 and 300,000 infants less than 18 months of age resulting in hospitalization of between 7,500 and 15,000 infants.