Under a federal court order , the major U.S. tobacco companies will soon have to post signs telling the public the truth about the deadly consequences of cigarette smoking at about 200,000 retail outlets across the United States that sell cigarettes. This order will fully implement the “corrective statements” the tobacco companies were first ordered to make in 2006, when U.S. District Judge Gladys Kessler issued a landmark judgment that these companies had violated civil racketeering laws and lied to the public for decades about the health risks and addictiveness of cigarettes and their marketing to children. The tobacco industry has fought the point-of-sale corrective statements in court for 16 years, but the parties to the case – including the U.S. Department of Justice, six public health intervenors and the tobacco companies – recently negotiated an agreement for the corrective statement signs to be displayed in retail stores for 21 months.
The point-of-sale signs will tell the public about the adverse health effects of smoking and secondhand smoke, the addictiveness of smoking and nicotine and the industry’s manipulation of cigarettes to make them more addictive. These corrective statement signs will also be powerful reminders that tobacco’s horrific toll is no accident. It stems directly from the tobacco industry’s deceptive and illegal practices. As Judge Kessler found in her 2006 final opinion, the tobacco companies have engaged in massive wrongdoing that has resulted in “a staggering number of deaths per year, an immeasurable amount of human suffering and economic loss, and a profound burden on our national health care system.” The fact that the tobacco companies have fought the point-of-sale corrective statements for 16 years shows how little they have changed. The corrective statements have previously been disseminated through newspaper and TV ads and on cigarette packs, and they continue to appear on tobacco company websites.
The court order applies to defendants Altria, Philip Morris USA and R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company, as well as to four cigarette brands owned by ITG Brands LLC.
