加拿大煙民集體起訴菸草公司 索賠250億美元

Canada's three biggest tobacco companies, all with multinational parents, face C$27.25 billion ($27.43 billion) in damages and penalties as the largest civil lawsuit in the country's history to go to trial started on Monday.

加拿大史上最大規模的民事訴訟案於本週一開始審理，該國三家最大的跨國菸草公司將面臨272.5億加元（274.3億美元）的賠償和處罰。

The companies, Imperial Tobacco Canada, JTI-Macdonald Corp and Rothmans Benson & Hedges, are named in the class action suit by a group of current and former smokers in the province of Quebec.

魁北克省的菸民和已戒菸的民衆發起了這場集體訴訟，將帝國菸草公司、JTI-麥克唐納菸草公司以及樂富門本森與赫奇菸草公司告上法庭。

At question in the trial in Quebec Superior Court in Montreal is whether the companies adequately warned smokers of the dangers of cigarettes. It is the first time tobacco companies have gone to trial in a civil suit in Canada.

這起案件在蒙特利爾的魁北克高等法院開庭審理，爭議的焦點在於這幾家菸草公司是否充分警告了菸民吸菸的危害。這是菸草公司首次在加拿大成爲民事訴訟的被告。

The plaintiffs say they were hoodwinked into buying an addictive product and have since developed a range of smoking-related illnesses, including lung cancer and emphysema.

原告認爲，他們受到了欺騙，才購買了可上癮的菸草產品，並因此患上與吸菸有關的多種疾病，包括肺癌和肺氣腫。

The tobacco firms say the suits amount to "an opportunistic cash grab" as the risks of smoking have been known for decades.

而菸草公司認爲，這起訴訟案無異於通過投機取巧來搶錢，因爲人們幾十年來一直很清楚吸菸的危害。

"Tobacco manufacturers must be held accountable for their actions, and legal proceedings provide a key opportunity to bring about a fundamental change in this industry's business practices," said the Canadian Cancer Society's Melanie Champagne.

加拿大防癌協會的梅蘭妮•昌佩恩說：“菸草商必須爲自己的行爲負責，法律訴訟爲從根本上改變菸草業的商業行爲提供了一個關鍵時機。”

More than 10,000 people die each year in Quebec from causes directly linked to smoking. Quebec's annual healthcare spending on tobacco-related ailments tops C$1 billion, according to the Canadian Cancer Society.

根據加拿大防癌協會的數據，魁北克每年有一萬多人死於吸菸直接導致的疾病，每年用於吸菸相關疾病的醫療支出高達10億加元。

The lawsuit is the first of a series of multibillion-dollar suits against Canadian tobacco companies. Provincial governments also plan huge lawsuits in hopes of recovering billions of healthcare dollars spent to treat the victims of tobacco use.

這起訴訟是針對加拿大煙草公司發起的一系列訴訟的第一起，這些訴訟的金額都高達數十億美元。加拿大各省政府還計劃發起大規模訴訟，以期補償用於治療菸草導致的疾病患者的數十億美元醫療費用。

With tens of millions of pages of documents already exchanged, the Quebec trial could go on for years. The tobacco companies are not scheduled to start to present their evidence until February 2013.

已交換的訴訟文件已達數千萬頁，魁北克的這起官司可能持續數年。菸草公司打算在明年2月份再公佈自己的證據。

The Canadian government regulates and taxes the tobacco industry, and has imposed graphic warnings on cigarette packages in recent years. Canada also restricts how tobacco is marketed and sold in an effort to dissuade consumption.

加拿大政府負責監管菸草業並徵稅，最近幾年還在香菸外包裝印上了警示圖案。加拿大還對菸草業的市場銷售進行限制，以勸阻消費。