An anti-smoking group says it's pleased the New Brunswick government is suing 14 tobacco companies, one of which on Friday called the move hypocritical and a waste of taxpayers' money.

Smoking has cost the health-care system thousands of dollars, Kenneth Maybee, president and chief executive officer of the New Brunswick Lung Association, said in Fredericton.

An estimated 1,200 people die prematurely every year in New Brunswick from smoking-related illnesses, he told CBC News, adding that it was time New Brunswick sued.

"Congratulations to the province of New Brunswick for taking on this initiative, and we certainly will be supportive on the way through," he said Friday.

"We firmly endorse this move. It's the right thing to do."

Costly consequences for health care

Research has shown that smoking is a leading cause of lung cancer, tobacco products are addictive and exposure to second-hand smoke is harmful, Maybee said.

People who started smoking at a young age are now coping with such conditions as emphysema and acute bronchitis, he said.

"It is very painful and debilitating to them and very costly to the health-care system," he said.

Maybee said he is optimistic that the government will win a settlement, but that the lung association and other anti-smoking groups will have to make sure that part of any settlement is funnelled into prevention programs.

He said he wants the province to set up a special committee to oversee how the money from a settlement would be spent.

New Brunswick Health Minister Mike Murphy announced Thursday that the province wants to hold tobacco companies accountable for the suffering their products has caused.

He said the suit was filed on behalf of people whose health has been damaged by tobacco products, families who have lost loved ones to illnesses that resulted from tobacco use and taxpayers who have had to pay for additional costs to the health-care system because of smoking illnesses.

Damages will be 'substantial'

The province did not name a dollar figure that it is seeking because it is too early to do so, said New Brunswick Attorney-General T.J. Burke.

"Costs can range in the millions, the tens of millions of dollars, and I don't want to … identify a specific number, because those numbers can change," he said.

"Those numbers, of course, are going to be substantial because we believe the province of New Brunswick has spent millions of dollars in health care for citizens who have tobacco-related injuries or damages." 

B.C. was the first province to launch a lawsuit against the tobacco industry. Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Newfoundland and Labrador, and Nova Scotia have legislation that enables them to do so.

Imperial Tobacco, named in the suit, issued a statement on Thursday that said the lawsuit is simply a cash grab and not in the interests of taxpayers.

"Governments are senior partners in the tobacco industry," Benjamin Kemball, president and chief executive officer of Imperial Tobacco Canada, said from Montreal.

"Governments in Canada earn from tobacco 18 times the profits of the entire tobacco industry," he said. "They heavily regulate the industry and have been fully aware of the risks associated with tobacco products for decades."

Governments across the country collect about $8 billion in taxes from the tobacco industry a year, Kemball said. New Brunswick's share of the tobacco tax revenue is about $80 million a year.

"It is hypocritical that governments, like New Brunswick, turn around and sue a legal industry that they oversee and license while allowing an illegal tobacco industry to flourish."

He said he thinks the lawsuit will take years to resolve and, ultimately, will not be successful.

"This lawsuit is a waste of taxpayers' money and will never result in the monetary windfall the New Brunswick government hopes for," he added.

Kemball said the only real winners will be the lawyers involved in what he called "jackpot justice."

With files from the Canadian Press