Smokers sue tobacco firm for cancer scans

A GROUP of long-term American smokers are suing tobacco giant Philip Morris - demanding not money but hi-tech screenings to catch lung cancer early.

The four Marlboro cigarette smokers from Brooklyn want the company to pay for yearly spiral CT scans, which can cost up to 300.

They claim the procedure could save thousands of lives by detecting lung cancer before it is too late.

As in other tobacco lawsuits, the complaint alleges they were victims of deceptive marketing of a deadly product.

The group is seeking class action status for anyone over the age of 50 who has smoked the equivalent of one pack a day for at least 20 years.

"Philip Morris is obligated morally, not just legally, to make a health investment to help prevent death and suffering caused by the Marlboro smoke," the smokers' attorney Jerome Block said.

The suit says a CT scan is a simple procedure that can detect small tumours on the lungs far more effectively than conventional chest X-rays.

"It is a safe, efficacious and inexpensive technique which, for the first time, provides a means to identify and diagnose lung cancers at an early stage, when they are still curable," the claim said.

"This surveillance, if made available, will save the lives and ease the suffering of a significant number of the members of the proposed class."

But CT scans also have high false positive rates, which has stopped major cancer research groups from endorsing routine screening.

Tobacco companies have won two other so-called medical monitoring suits that went to trial. A spokeswoman for Altria, Philip Morris's parent company, said it was making no comment because it had not yet seen the lawsuit.