Tobacco companies unlikely to shift business models despite proposed settlement: prof [Video]

Tobacco policy experts say without further pressure, major companies are unlikely to shift their business models toward less harmful alternatives despite a proposed settlement reached that would see three industry giants pay out billions to smokers and their families.

Under a newly proposed deal filed in court on Thursday, JTI-Macdonald Corp., Rothmans, Benson & Hedges, and Imperial Tobacco Canada Ltd. would pay nearly $25 billion to provincial and territorial governments.

More than $4 billion would go to Quebec class-action members and another $2.5 billion would be paid to smokers in other provinces and territories who were diagnosed with lung cancer, throat cancer or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease between March 2015 and March 2019.

The three tobacco companies would also pour more than $1 billion into a foundation to fight tobacco-related diseases.

But University of Toronto professor Michael Chaiton, who studies tobacco and addiction, said the agreement offers little incentive for …