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. 2019 Sep 13;29(e1):e41–e49. doi: 10.1136/tobaccocontrol-2019-054953

Table 3.

Putting the smoker on trial (while keeping the industry invisible)

Defence attorneys will often say:
Defence Plaintiff FS MWR Example, from defence closing
he (or she)… 63 386 41 104 0.40 0.16 “when she heard her own husband say it is going to kill you, she did not try to quit.”61
 …did not 3563 1570 0.31 0.17 “She made the choice not to quit. She did not want to quit.”62
 …never 1679 236 0.13 0.09 He never asked for help, he never threw away his cigarettes, he never said, I'm going to stop smoking.”47
 …knew 1255 497 0.29 0.29 She knew from the beginning, and her husband confirms, she knew the risks.”56
 …wanted 972 199 0.18 0.16 “He knew smoking was dangerous and addictive long before May 5th, 1982, and he did what he wanted to do.”42
 …admitted 333 71 0.18 0.30 She admitted that she already knew the danger before she switched to Kent.”63
Mr/Ms/Mrs 32 912 15 514 0.33 0.10 Mr. Gelep knew that smoking was risky.”64
warning/s 2864 813 0.23 0.14 “He received many warnings over the years. And he smoked in the face of those warnings. And he had every right to make that choice.”65
decision/s 2857 761 0.22 0.12 “These episodes are proof that his smoking decisions were based on what he wanted to do and not based on addiction.”66
risk/s 2580 791 0.24 0.14 “As adults, it is our right to choose to balance the risk and benefits of the things we enjoy.”50

P values <0.0001 for all FS and MWR score.

FS, frequency score; MWR, Mann-Whitney Rho.