Government
Tobacco companies must tell public they lied
NEWS IN BRIEF — Posted Dec. 10, 2012
A federal court has ordered national tobacco companies to advertise publicly that they deceived consumers in the past.
In a Nov. 27 opinion, the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia ordered several national tobacco companies to publish corrective statements that say they lied about smoking dangers. The statements also must explain health ailments caused by smoking and include the smoking-related mortality rate.
The ruling comes from a civil lawsuit brought by the federal government in 1999 against the tobacco companies. The companies had lied to the public through their advertising campaigns, violating the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, the government said. In 2006, the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia found that the defendants intentionally had engaged in a scheme to defraud smokers by making false and fraudulent statements, representations and promises. An appeals court upheld the decision.
Parties later submitted proposed corrective statements to the federal court. In her November opinion, District Judge Gladys Kessler chose five categories the tobacco companies must address publicly, including the adverse health effects of smoking, addictiveness of smoking and lack of significant health benefit from smoking “low-tar” cigarettes.
Among the statements the companies must make: “Smoking kills, on average, 1,200 Americans. Every day,” and “Defendant tobacco companies intentionally designed cigarettes to make them more addictive.”
Note: This item originally appeared at http://www.ama-assn.org/amednews/2012/12/10/gvbf1210.htm.
