For many years he was the face of Winston cigarettes, a manly, dashing figurehead for the brand. Now Alan Landers is garnering a lot of publicity for the anti-smoking lobby in America after launching a lawsuit against the parent company of Winston, RJ Reynolds, one of the 8000 lawsuits currently being fought against the tobacco companies. Mr Landers first turned on the hand that fed him in the eighties, becoming a spokesperson for the World Health Organisation after he himself was diagnosed with cancer.
Despite the lung and throat cancer that makes it necessary for the 68-year-old to have daily radiation treatments, Mr. Landers has vowed to see the fight through to the end. Interviewed by the Florida Sun Sentinel, he said “The tobacco companies have been waiting for me to die for years and I haven't. I'm not going to give them the satisfaction of beating me."
His case goes to trial in April, the culmination of a 14-year fight. In Broward County, a jury has just ruled that a man died because of his addiction to nicotine and a decision is now being taken as to whether, and how much, Phillip Morris must award damages to his widow. Alan Lander’s case will be one of the first to be heard after a 2006 ruling from the Florida Supreme Court that saw a $145 billion class action award against Phillip Morris thrown out, requiring each case to be heard individually.
In the UK, there has been good news after analysis by the charity Cancer Research UK indicated that over the next 20 years, rates of lung cancer will drop by over a fifth, as measures like the smoking ban would see numbers of smokers continue to fall. Currently about 90% of lung cancers are attributable to smoking.