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PRESS RELEASE

July 17, 2001

RE: Battaglia vs. Imperial Tobacco Ltd.

On July 10th, 2001, I filed my appeal with the
Superior Court of Justice (Divisional Court) against the decision by
Justice Pamela Thompson, wherein among other things she said "only
Mr. Battaglia can control his smoking habit". After 10 days of shock
and assessing the decision with a clearer mind the reasons for
appealing are as follows:

1) It would take another person at least 5 years to
achieve the legal position I am presently in. This would be a waste
of valid accusations which has the potential to expose Imperial
Tobaccos' deceitful manufacturing and marketing techniques,
specifically where it relates to their Light and Mild cigarettes. If
I quit this fight now I would be enabling them to continue these
deadly practices.

2) There are tens of thousands of adult Canadian
cigarette smokers, like me, who wished they didn't smoke, have tried
to quit, failed and don't understand why. Well, I know why!

3) The Honorable Justice Thompson primarily based her
decision on my existing health, which has stabilized because of
prescribed medication. (No Harm, No foul) Health was never my issue.
When I commenced this claim in 1996, I was not aware that in 1999 I
would be diagnosed with coronary heart disease. It was added to my
claim to show a probable result of Imperial Tobaccos deception. In
particular the design, formula and marketing of Matinee King Size
Ultra Mild and Matinee Slim 100's Ultra Mild.

4) I am not a "Johnny come lately". My claim goes back
5 years following an action to quit on my part in 1994. What we know
today confirms my suspicions of seven years ago. I don't expect
those who have never smoked or those who have quit, to understand or
have empathy for us. We wish we were one of you. But there still are
millions who have tried to quit by trying the same method of weaning
themselves off cigarettes as I have by switching to brands which
hold the image of being lighter, safer, less addictive so that one
day we could quit forever. I do expect them to be as mad as I am at
this particular company and their deadly tactics. Even if you are
not a Matinee smoker there are now many clones out there because of
Imperials successful deception.

For almost 40 years of my smoking life I accepted the
blame for my smoking habit, I believed myself to be the weak one.
The one with an addictive personality. Forever destined to smoke,
until death do us part. But that attitude changed in 1996 when I put
2 and 2 together and came up with the claim before the courts
to-day.

5) In a nutshell this is what they knew, did and are
still doing. Imperial Tobacco finally stated to a Senate Hearing in
the year 2000 (after more than 50 years of denial) that cigarettes
are addictive, cause cancer and other deadly diseases in some
people. Who they are they do not know. Well we know the number in
Canada is 45,000 people a year, you or I could be one of them.

With this knowledge they continue to exhibit a wanton
disregard toward the value of human life. Rather than study how to
make a safer cigarette (which can be done) they deliberately
designed cigarette brands (Matinee being the worst) to specifically
target smokers who were trying to quit. Effectively sabotaging their
efforts, without regard to their personal welfare. Surely if not the
law, divine intervention will take its course and punish the
offenders. If Imperial Tobacco knew cigarettes killed human beings,
why are they designing cigarettes that keep smokers hooked?

6) There were many other critical issues raised as
evidence at trial by the Plaintiff that were not refuted by Imperial
Tobacco. Somehow, over the 8 month period between trial and
judgement they were forgotten and the foundation of my case became
my heart disease. I don't need to be sick nor do I need to have quit
to prove my allegation against them. Its their actions that
frustrated my efforts to quit in 1994. Had they not planned to
market lighter cigarettes that were actually more dangerous and
addictive than regular cigarettes I may and several others might not
be smoking today. Imperial Tobacco and Matinee cigarettes should be
the focus of our attention along with the deceitful practices
shamelessly exhibited by them. How could Mr. Battaglia "control his
smoking habits" if he was being injected with nicotine while he
slept?

7) Unknown at the time of trial in November of 2000
but known now, it certainly appears that perjury was committed by
the defense witness, Mr. Donald Brown, former Chairman & CEO of
Imperial Tobacco when he stated under oath that his company has
studied elasticity in cigarettes but would never sell them. In fact,
80% of the mild cigarettes that they sell are elastic, so say Doctors for a Smoke Free Canada in a press release
dated June 6, 2001.

Never mind the micro holes in the filter (that our
lips cover) that's too simple. Now we have scientists and
pharmaceutical formulas to worry about. What are chemists doing in
the tobacco business? As a personal exercise rip open one of these
so called softer cigarettes and examine the content inside. It's
certainly not tobacco! What you will find are called ends, chips of
tobacco bark, twigs and very little fine quality tobacco. It's the
stuff we used to sweep off the factory floors in 1957 when I was the
office boy at Rothmans. We wouldn't be caught dead selling
cigarettes filled with ends. Where did the "Best Tobacco Money Can
Buy" go? (Elasticity allows the smoker to obtain the optimum amount
of nicotine required to satisfy the body, with little effort)

8) If with a straight face Imperial Tobacco can deny
the obvious, for over 50 years and only recently recant their
denials. If a recent head of Imperial Tobacco can, (with a straight
face) deny that they would sell elastic cigarettes in Canada but
were, then it can be said with justification that all evidence put
forward by the defense should be, disregarded. At the very least a
new trial should be ordered.

This appeal will be argued by "Justice", (Traffic
Agents @ Court)

A copy of appeal can be found on the Web site,
www.justice.on.ca on July 23, 2001

What's the solution?

A) The Federal Government agency responsible for
Consumer and Corporate Affairs should immediately suspend the
Charter which allows Imperial Tobacco to conduct business in Canada.
Continue the revocation until they stop selling pharmaceutical
products and get back to putting tobacco in cigarettes.

B) Legislate that within 2 years the tobacco industry
must produce and manufacture cigarettes which do not carry any
addictive ingredients. It can be done. The reason why it hasn't is
because a smoker who wants to quit would be able to. It would also
admit that existing cigarettes are unsafe.

No addiction, No Craving, No Smoking! No Money, No Big
Tobacco.

C) An investigation of Imperial Tobacco executives
advertising agency and scientists who participated in the design and
marketing of these deadly cigarettes should commence and when
warranted appropriate charges should be laid and prosecuted to the
fullest extent of the law. What is happening now in the tobacco
industry is inexcusable. I am mad at them and all others like me
should be mad at them as well. It's not all our fault!

Joseph Battaglia

mailto:[email-masked]?subject=Tobacco
lawsuit

Appeal

Court File No.
456/2001

SUPERIOR COURT OF JUSTICE DIVISIONAL COURT

BETWEEN:

JOSEPH BATTAGLIA

SUPERIOR COURT OF JUSTICE

Plantiff

FILED

(Appellant)

JUL
10 2001

-and-

REGISTRAR

IMPERIAL TOBACCO LIMITED

DIVISIONAL COURT
TORONTO

Defendant

(Respondant)

NOTICE OF APPEAL

The
Planitiff(Appellant) appeals to the Divisional Court from the
Judgement of the Honorable Justice Pamela Thompson of Toronto Small
Claims Court dated June 5th,2001 at Room #3, 45 Sheppard
Ave. East, Toronto, Ontario.

The Appellant asks
that the judgement be varied as follows:

1) That the
judgement be set aside and an order be granted as follows:

2) An order to
overturn the learned trial Justice judgement with costs as allowed
under the Small Claims Court rules.

3) In the
alternative, an order granting a new trial of the Appellants action.

THE GROUNDS OF
APPEAL ARE AS FOLLOWS:

1) The learned Trial
Justice did not give the proper weight to the direct examination and
cross examination from the Appellant, specifically with regard to
Imperial Tobacco Limited and the intentional manipulation of their
products. Instead, the decision was based on the health of the
Appellant, Mr. Joseph Battaglia.

2) On June 6th,
2001, a press release from Mr. Neil Collishaw, research director for
Physicians for a Smoke Free Canada, emphatically stated Imperial did
manufacture and sell cigarettes in Canada which were "elastic".
Extensive analysis of lab results results shows that two thirds of
cigarettes -31 billion annually- sold in Canada are "elastic",
"Elastic" meaning that they produce and unexpectedly large nicotine
hit when a smoker takes a puff or that companies have used certain
methods to deliver more nicotine per puff. Imperial Tobacco Canada
commands 70 percent of the Canadian market. In November 2000, Donald
Brown, Chairman and former Chief Executive of Imperial Tobacco
Canada, told the Court his Company had researched "elastic"
cigarettes, but would never sell them. In his quest to be completely
honest and forthright Mr. Collishaw testified in November 2000 that
he had found no evidence that "elasticity" was part of Imperial
Tobacco Limited's practice. Justice Thomson made reference to this
evidence in her reasons for judgment. With this new evidence by Mr.
Collishaw a doubt has been cast on the evidence given at trial by
Mr. Donald Brown and his knowledge of manufacturing and marketing of
these "elastic" cigarettes.

3) This is a
critical issue in regard to the health and welfare of tens of
thousands of Canadians. For 50 years, the cigarette industry had
denied any link between smoking and health disease. Last year the
President of Imperial Tobacco Canada admitted that nicotine is
addictive and smoking causes cancer and other diseases. 45,000
Canadians die annually from smoking related causes. Very few adult
smokers want to smoke, wished they didn't, have failed in their
efforts to quit and don't understand why. The Appellant respectively
submits, that the evidence from Imperial Tobacco Limited, at trial
was not credible and deceptive manufacturing techniques were used.

The Appellant
requests that this appeal be heard at Toronto.

Date: June
29th, 2001

From: Justice, Agents @ Court

To: Deborah Glendinning

2255 Keele St., Suite 101

c/o Osler, Hoskin &
Harcourt

Toronto, Ontario

1 First Canadian Place, Suite
600

M6M 3Z6

Toronto, Ontario

(416)-366-8729 Fax-(416)-614-8436

(416)-826-4714
Fax-(416)-826-4719

Contact: Joseph Battaglia

Solicitors for the
Defendants

Article

'Positive'
tobacco
deaths
knocked

Cig maker under fire

The Toronto Sun, Wednesday July 18,
2001

GENEVA(AP) - Anti-smoking groups reacted angrily
yesterdey to a report by cigarette giant Philip Morris that said
tobacco could save a government millions of dollars in health care
and pensions because many smokers die earlier.

The report, by research company Arthor D.Little
International and commisioned by Philip Morris, looked looked at the
cost of smoking in the Czech Republic in 1999 and concluded the
government had benefited from the "indirect positive effects" of
early deaths.

Savings on health care, pensions and housing for
the elderly totalled $46 million, the report said.

The British-based group Action on Smoking and
Health described the study as "a sort of extermination program for
the newly retired."

'Callous disregard for
life'

"The whole exercise is repellant and should be
dismissed. Philip Morris is whispering in the ear of the Czech
government, saying: 'Look, we can help you deal with those expensive
old people, so why don't you go easy on controlling smoking?'" said
John Connolly, the group's public affairs manager.

Matthew Myers, president of the U.S. group
Compaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, said the analysis represented "not
only bad economics, but also a callous disregard for human
life."

Remi Calvet, director of communications for Philip
Morris at its European headquarters in Lausanne, Switzerland, said
the report had been commisioned to obtain economic data for the
company, which makes 80% of the cigarettes sold in the Czech
Republic.

"We deeply regret any impression that premature
death of smokers could represent a benefit for society," he told the
Associated Press.

Smoking's positive
effects

The Toronto Star, Sunday July 22,
2001

Ain't that great!

That pretty much sums up tobacco giant Philip
Morris' response to the warning on cigarette packs that Smoking
Kills.

After decades of denying that cigarettes are
lethal, Philip Morris is now trying to make a virtue out of the
fact.

In a bid to discourage governments from
strengthening anti-smoking laws, the Marlborough Man-turned-Grim
Reaper is touting all the savings countries can harvest from
premature deaths.

In a study it commissioned on the cost of smoking
in the Czech Republic, Philip Morris reported that there was a net
benefit to the government from the "indirect positive effects" of
early deaths.

First, it argued that tobacco taxes more than
offset smoking-related costs such as health-care expenditures,
fires, lost income, and lost work days. Then the study went on to
point out that governments could expect an added windfall in the
form of savings on pensions, health care and housing because smokers
don't live as long as non-smokers.

After Philip Morris put a cold, calculated $46
million figure on this dividend from death, a spokesperson for the
company offered a hollow apology, saying, "We deeply regret any
impression that premature death of smokers could represent a benefit
for society."

To put a dollar value on the "indirect positive
effects" of killing people only affirms another Health Canada
warning on cigarette packs: "Tobacco smoke can cause the arteries
in your brain to clog...."

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