The suit was filed on behalf of Israel's Clalit national health fund, which represents 60 percent of Israelis. It seeks up to $8 billion from cigarette makers for allegedly poisoning and possibly irradiating Israelis.

The lawsuit cited an internal Philip Morris memo as evidence that the largest U.S. cigarette firm made cigarettes containing radioactive tobacco. The document was found in the Minnesota document archive that tobacco companies were forced to establish by U.S. court order.

"Whether the amount of radioactivity is harmful or not we don't know, but it is quite possible it is harmful because of the simple reason that nobody is checking," said attorney Amos Hausner. "Nobody, but nobody, assumes the risk of inhaling something radioactive."

The Clalit lawsuit is the biggesat in Israel's history.

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