WASHINGTON - The American Liggett Group broke ranks yesterday with the US tobacco industry, admitting that smoking causes cancer and that nicotine is addictive and agreeing to help state officials sue its fellow cigarette companies.
Liggett signed a landmark settlement that will shield it from further prosecution in 22 states that had been seeking to recover damages from cigarette related ailments, the Arizona Attorney General, Mr Grant Woods, announced here.
"To use a criminal analogy, Liggett is turning state's evidence in our lawsuits against the other major tobacco companies," said Mr Woods, who appeared at a press conference with counterparts from the 21 other states where anti smoking litigation is under way.
Under terms of the settlement, he said, Liggett will hand over hundreds of documents to be filed in state courts that will serve as evidence of "crime and fraud" on the part of the US tobacco industry in the past several decades.