This episode suggests both the uses and the limits of private litigation. Big business wants to sharply restrict product-liability lawsuits, and the tobacco litigation shows way. But the rush to settle by the attorneys general also suggests the essential role of regulation, to defend a broader public interest. That's where the FDA comes in, and that's why industry is so eager to hobble it. That would be the right fate for the tobacco industry.
Nobody wants to outlaw smoking.
If tobacco companies went bankrupt, tobacco could remain available as a generic product, perhaps sold by government, at cost. But it would be stripped of the artificial glamor and commercial hype generated by Big Tobacco. Of course, other harmful and even illegal drugs are widely used. But given what we now know about tobacco, the least we can do is filter out the commercial puffery. Readers may redistribute this article to other individuals for noncommercial use, provided that the text and this notice remain intact.