All smoking is dangerous, but it was especially so in the 1950s when Lorillard Tobacco Company produced cigarettes with asbestos filters. The company advertised that its Kent cigarettes with Micronite filters offered the “greatest health protection,” putting hundreds of thousands of smokers at additional risk of malignant mesothelioma and other asbestos-related diseases.
The History of Kent Micronite Cigarette Filters
In the early 1950s, cigarette smoking began to be recognized as the cause of the global lung cancer epidemic.[1] With a Gallup survey revealing that 45% of American adults were cigarette smokers, tobacco companies began introducing cigarette filters to their products, marketing the addition as an effective way to minimize the dangers of smoking.[2]
The P. Lorillard Company was one of the country’s oldest continuously operated companies. In response to the initial lung cancer scare it introduced a new cigarette named after the company president, Herbert A. Kent, that it advertised as offering the “greatest health protection.” The Kent cigarette featured what the company called a Micronite filter made of cotton, acetate, crepe paper, and crocidolite asbestos.[3] Also known as blue asbestos, crocidolite’s fibers are fine and sharp. It is considered the most dangerous type of asbestos.
The company aggressively advertised its cigarettes as safe, noting that they had chosen to include blue crocidolite because it had been used to stop particles and gases in gas masks made for the Army Chemical Corps. Their marketing campaign referred to Micronite as a “pure, dust-free, completely harmless material that is so safe, so effective, it actually is used to help filter the air in operating rooms of leading hospitals.” Lorillard advertised the Kent cigarettes in medical journals and marketing packages sent to physicians.[3]
Even as the company marketed the product’s safety, its research department was expressing concern about customers inhaling asbestos through the filters. A letter to the company president from the director of research noted “traces of mineral fiber” in the smoke, while another memo discussed the need “to find a way of anchoring asbestos.” A later memo from the president of Hollingsworth & Vose, the company that manufactured the filters, said, “It is Lorillard’s belief that asbestos must be eliminated from the Kent cigarette as soon as possible because of a whispering campaign started by their competitors of the harmful effects of asbestos.”[3]
Despite these concerns, Lorillard continued using asbestos cigarette filters for another 16 months, and once the manufacturing discontinued, allowed distributors and retailers to continue selling the product until their inventories were depleted.[3] Over the years that the Kent Micronite cigarettes were sold, its market share was 0.72%, though, in 1954, it accounted for 1.1% of the smoking market. This represents approximately 550,000 packs sold per day.[4] It is unknown how many of the several hundred thousand people who smoked the cigarettes were later diagnosed with malignant mesothelioma – many of them may still be alive and at risk.
Kent Micronite Cigarette Filters and Mesothelioma
A study conducted by researchers from the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey and St. Peter’s Medical Center examined intact, unopened packs of Kent cigarettes and found that each filter contained approximately 10 mg of crocidolite asbestos. The structures were also found in the smoke from the first two puffs of each cigarette smoked, which led to them estimating that a person smoking a pack of the Kent Micronite cigarettes per day would take in more than 131 million crocidolite structures longer than 5 micrometers in a year: This length has been associated with greater carcinogenic potential than do structures less than 5 micrometers.[4]
The authors of the study noted that their data likely underestimates the amount of crocidolite released in an actual smoking situation versus the simulated action conducted in the laboratory, which only recorded smoke from the first two puffs. They also note that the term structures is not the same as fibers and that the aggregate structure includes at least three and often hundreds of fibers, and were only those that had settled on the interior of the syringe and had become suspended in the solution used.[4]
Crocidolite asbestos is strongly associated with causing malignant mesothelioma, a disease that has a long latency period which means it often does not appear until six or seven decades after exposure. This means that people who smoked these cigarettes in the mid-1950s could still be alive and at risk. Many people who smoked the cigarettes, as well as those who worked in the Hollingsworth & Vose manufacturing plant where the filters were made, have come forward in the last few years to file personal injury lawsuits against the manufacturer and tobacco company.
- Lois Prokocimer was diagnosed with pleural mesothelioma after smoking Kent Micronite cigarettes in the 1950s. She sued both Hollingsworth & Vose and Lorillard’s new owner, R. J. Reynolds, accusing the companies of knowing that asbestos was a harmful carcinogen. Though the companies moved for summary judgment against her claims, the woman’s mesothelioma attorneys submitted 161 exhibits including warnings from experts as early as 1952.
- Myrna Korsh filed suit against Lorillard and Hollingsworth and Vose Co. in Manhattan’s federal court, after being diagnosed with malignant mesothelioma. In her claim, she cites evidence that the companies put asbestos in the cigarettes intentionally, that they knew that asbestos was dangerous, and that they had fraudulently published numerous advertisements in print, radio, and television marketing it as offering the “greatest health protection in cigarette history.” Other ads included as evidence said that the Micronite filter was a “completely harmless material.” Mrs. Karsh asserted that she had specifically “purchased and smoked Kent cigarettes because she believed the filter had health benefits and that it was the best cigarette available because of its purported health benefits.”[5]
- Two years after reading an article about the asbestos in Kent Micronite cigarettes, Norman Braun was diagnosed with mesothelioma. Before he died, he filed a lawsuit against Lorillard and Hollingsworth & Vose, noting that he had chosen to smoke Kent because he liked the idea “that the Micronite filter was a be-all and save-all.” He said, “It appealed to your sense of self-preservation and well-being.” His claim was one of fifteen filed against that company that year.[6]
- Claims were also filed against the companies by employees who handled the filter material and later contracted asbestos-related diseases. Elizabeth Jacobs’ husband and brother both died of asbestos disease after working at Hollingsworth & Vose, and she died of mesothelioma at the age of 54. Her death is attributed to secondary exposure from having laundered her husband’s asbestos-contaminated work clothes.[6]
- Clinical psychologist Milton Horowitz was diagnosed with mesothelioma at the age of 72. He filed suit against Lorillard and was awarded $2 million in compensatory and punitive damages. It was the very first product liability defeat for the tobacco industry.[6]
In addition to malignant mesothelioma, asbestos in cigarette filters have been linked to:
- Lung cancer
- Laryngeal cancer
- Throat and esophageal cancers
Were You Exposed to Asbestos in Kent Micronite Cigarettes?
If you smoked Kent Micronite cigarettes and have been diagnosed with mesothelioma or another asbestos-related disease, you may be eligible to seek compensation from the company. Though there’s a well-established link between asbestos exposure and mesothelioma, the company’s attorneys have a history of being aggressive in their defense, challenging victims’ memories of the cigarette brands that they smoked and arguing that old tests of the asbestos contents of the filters were unreliable.[6] The best way to position yourself for success is to reach out to an experienced asbestos attorney.
At your initial consultation, a mesothelioma lawyer will ask you about your smoking history and your memory of having smoked Kent Micronite cigarettes. They’ll also review your occupational records, identify potential witnesses, and gather other data to build and support your case.
Attorneys specializing in mesothelioma and other asbestos-related illnesses have extensive resources, including access to documents from previous cases filed against Lorillard. They will also explain the process involved in filing a personal injury lawsuit, the potential for a settlement, and the statutes of limitations that set deadlines for taking legal action. With the guidance they provide, you’ll have the information you need to consult with your loved ones to determine your best course of action.
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