On considering when Mr Badger should
have been aware that smoking posed a
risk to his health, the court had to consider
the history of health warnings to the public.
When he began smoking, the connection
to serious ill health was not widely
accepted and despite research into the
links between smoking and lung cancer in
1950, it took until 1971 for the first health
warnings on cigarette packets to appear
in the UK. From that moment on, it was
reasonably foreseeable by a reasonably
prudent person that if they smoked, they
risked damaging their health. If from this
date a person did not give up smoking
whilst knowing the risks, then they were
damaging their health and had to be
responsible for their actions. Based on this
history, the court determined that It was
only reasonable that the claimant became
contributory negligent from that date for
failing to stop on advice.
A few years later in 2008, the Courts
considered Shortell –v- Bical. Here, the
deceased was exposed to asbestos during
his work and developed lung cancer. He
had smoked around 2 6