“In the final analysis, it’s people—families—who have to make the adjustments. Certainly, the economy of the tobacco-producing states and the large manufacturers will be affected [by the tobacco lawsuits]. But the continuing controversy over tobacco touches the lives of individuals.” —Dixie Watts Reaves, associate professor in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, and Wayne D. Purcell, professor of agriculture and applied economics and coordinator of the Rural Economic Analysis Program at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University in Blacksburg, Virginia

In August 1995 the Wall Street Journal reported: “The Food and Drug Administration—declaring cigarettes a drug—[has just] released research that constitutes one of the most blistering attacks the government has ever made against an industry.” That research revealed that tobacco companies had misled the public about the dangerous side effects of smoking. During...