Of cigarettes and silicone

WHAT a strange beast the American legal system is. On the one hand, tobacco firms have squelched virtually every attempt to sue them for damages. On the other, consider breast implants. Although there is so far no proof that bags of silicone in the mammary glands cause a fraction of the problems they are blamed for, manufacturers have been forced to pledge several billion dollars in compensation, and the biggest firm, Dow Corning, had to seek Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in 1995.