'WHEN I FOUND I HAD A TUMOUR, I LOST THE TASTE FOR CIGARETTES'

A SCOT who is among the 53 smokers suing Gallaher said yesterday he was
angry that the tobacco giant had not disclosed medical evidence to the
public in the 1970s.

Murdo McMillan, a smoker for more than 40 years, had a lung removed in 1990
after tests revealed a tumour. The retired executive in the chemical
industry said he had started smoking in the 1940s while at school and was a
heavy smoker by the time he was 16.

Speaking from his home in Prestwick yesterday, Mr McMillan, 66, said: "If
these people had the reports, you would think they would have advised their
customers if there was a danger to their health. Obviously they did not do
that."

However, Mr McMillan was cautious about how the internal Gallaher memo
might affect the forthcoming legal battle. "There's a long way to go. It's
always difficult to predict how these things will turn out," he said. "One
of the encouraging things is that because this is a civil case we don't
have to prove beyond all reasonable doubt that Gallaher was responsible for
our cancers, but just a balance of probability."

After living in Nottinghamshire for most of his working life, Mr McMillan
returned to Prestwick in the late 1980s and shortly afterwards was
diagnosed as having lung cancer. Doctors said the tumour was operable and
he had a lung removed in 1990 at the Western Infirmary, Glasgow.

Mr McMillan's cancer is now in remission but he now suffers from
breathlessness and is unable to walk more than a short distance without
needing to stop and rest. Scotland's cold, damp climate affects him badly
and he is dependent on his car for going even short distances.

"I still have breathlessness and pain but I am very fortunate to be alive.
I cannot walk very far and carry a shooting stick to sit on when I go out."

Mr McMillan said he had no doubts that he would never have smoked if the
medical repercussions had been known. "When I started smoking there were no
health warnings on the cigarette packets, something that has obviously
changed now.

"It still amazes me when I see young people queuing up to buy cigarettes.
Smoking is a plague really.

"People ask me why I found it so easy to give up smoking after more than 40
years. I tell them that when I found out I had cancer, I lost the notion
for smoking immediately."

JOHN INNES