Doctor compares number of smoking deaths to 747 crashes

January 29, 1998
Web posted at: 3:52 p.m. EST (2052 GMT)

ST. PAUL, Minnesota (CNN) -- Cigarette smoke gets nicotine to the brain faster than an intravenous injection and much faster than nicotine patches, a Mayo Clinic director has testified in the Minnesota tobacco trial.

Dr. Richard Hurt also told jurors on Wednesday that smoking kills 420,000 Americans every year -- the equivalent of three fully-loaded 747s crashing every day with no survivors.

Prior to 1900, he said, lung cancer was "a very rare form of disease;" but by the mid 1960s, it had become the most common cause of cancer death.

He was the first witness called by the state and Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota, which are suing tobacco companies for $1.77 billion for the cost of treating smoking-related illnesses. They also seek punitive damages.

Hurt's testimony gave jurors a basis for understanding once-secret tobacco industry documents introduced Wednesday. They show tobacco executives and scientists believed decades ago that their primary product was nicotine, not cigarettes.

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