Wednesday, December 4, 2002 - 12:30pm to 2:30pm
Mondale Hall, Room 25, University of Minnesota Law School
The tobacco industry can no longer claim legal invincibility. Prof. Brandt argued that this is the result of critical changes in the science of tobacco's harms, generating a fundamental transformation in the meaning of smoking. Prof. Brandt considered the ethical issues at stake in adjudicating responsibility for the harms incurred by smoking. Finally, he assessed the future of liability as a strategy for reducing harms to the public's health.
Commentators:
Hubert H. Humphrey, III, Esq.
School of Public Health, University of Minnesota
Ron James
President & CEO
Center for Ethical Business Cultures
Allan M. Brandt, PhD, is the Amalie Moses Kass Professor of the History of Medicine at Harvard Medical School, where he directs the Program in the History of Medicine and the Division of Medical Ethics. He holds a joint appointment in the Department of the History of Science at Harvard University where he is currently chair. His work focuses on social and ethical aspects of health, disease, and medical practices in the 20th century U.S. He is currently completing a book on the social and cultural history of smoking in the U.S. In 2002, he was deposed as an expert witness for the Department of Justice in US v. Philip Morris.