SF Weekly reported: "This is a hate crime, plain and simple," said Kathleen DeBold, director of the Washington, D.C.–based Mautner Project for Lesbians With Cancer.
"[2]Project SCUM documents came to light after a court order forced R. J. Reynolds to hand them over during the State of California's litigation against tobacco companies.
R. J. Reynolds's marketing in the 1990s of its Camel and Winston cigarette brands drew the attention of attorneys representing California cities and counties.
Project SCUM highlighted how tobacco companies in the 1990s were targeting young adults to be lifetime smokers.
In 1998, a resolution of the litigation came about in the Master Settlement Agreement between more than 40 state attorneys general and the tobacco industry.