US opens €280bn case on big tobacco

CIGARETTE makers lied and tried to confuse the public about the dangers of smoking for 50 years, the US government said as its $280 billion case against the industry went to trial in Washington.

Defeat for the tobacco giants in the biggest civil racketeering case in history could bankrupt them.

In opening the case, the government said a 1953 meeting of tobacco industry executives at New York’s Plaza Hotel was the starting point for a conspiracy designed to cast doubt on links between cancer and cigarettes.