Japanese anti-smoking activists vowed on Wednesday to fight on after a suit by ill and dying smokers for compensation from the government and Japan Tobacco Inc was rejected by a judge who said nicotine was not addictive.

In a major setback for anti-smoking forces in a nation where even the Health Ministry has cigarette vending machines, the Tokyo District Court on Tuesday rejected demands for 10 billion yen ($91.28 million) in compensation for each plaintiff.

Presiding over the first case of its kind in Japan, Judge Kikuo Asaka said that it had been the choice of each smoker to start using tobacco and stunned the court by denying, in the face of scientific evidence, that nicotine was addictive.

"This judgment has brought shame on Japan," said Bungaku Watanabe, executive director of the Tobacco Problems Information Centre, an anti-smoking group.

Yoshio Isayama, head of the team of lawyers representing the plaintiffs, said they would appeal.

"The court appeared either not to have read, or not to understand, all the points we were making," he added. "The judgement is poles away from world knowledge about smoking."

"Right now, I believe the whole world is laughing at us."

The suit was filed in 1998 by seven plaintiffs, all of whom were former smokers suffering from diseases such as lung and laryngeal cancer. Four have since died and one dropped out.

The plaintiffs argued that Japan Tobacco (JT),the world's third-largest tobacco group and a former state monopoly in which the Finance Ministry holds a two-thirds stake, sold tobacco without providing full information on the health risks.

They demanded that the government share responsibility, saying it had failed to promote public health by regulating tobacco sales and advertising.

Japanese cigarette packs currently carry a message reading: "Because smoking may damage your health, please be careful not to smoke too much." In contrast, cigarette packs in Canada bear graphic pictures of cancerous tumours and diseased gums.

"Japan's current label is like a hoax," said Isayama. "It implies a little smoking is all right."

A survey by JT last year showed that 30.9 percent of Japanese adults were smokers, compared to 23 percent in the United States. Some 80,710 Japanese have died of tobacco-related illnesses this year, according to the plaintiffs' support group.

Official efforts to curb smoking have increased but still lag other nations. The Health Ministry itself has smoking areas and there are four cigarette vending machines on its premises.

JT's top-selling Mild Seven cigarettes cost about 270 yen ($2.47) per pack of 20.

Taxes from tobacco sales make a hefty contribution to Japan's national coffers. A July tax increase of about one yen per cigarette will result in a rise in annual tax revenue of 200 billion yen. ($1;109.55 Yen)

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