A court order issued on May 1st requires US tobacco companies to publish “corrective statements” on both company websites and cigarette package inserts describing the “deadly, addictive” nature of their products, according to a press release published by the American Heart Association.
This order follows the landmark 2006 judgment made by US District Judge Gladys Kessler, who suggested that tobacco companies had “violated civil racketeering laws and lied to the American public for decades about the health effects of smoking and their marketing to kids.” The current order implements further “corrective statements.”
The corrective statements must cover the following 5 topics: the adverse health effects of smoking; the addictiveness of smoking and nicotine; the lack of significant health benefit from smoking low tar, light, ultra light, mild, or natural cigarettes; the manipulation of cigarette design and composition to ensure optimum nicotine delivery; and the adverse health effects of exposure to secondhand smoke.
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These statements must be published on companies’ websites by June 18, 2018, and on cigarette packaging inserts by November 21, 2018. The full text of the corrective statements can be viewed here.
Reference
American Heart Association. Tobacco Companies Ordered to Place Statements About Products’ Dangers on Websites and Cigarette Packs [news release]. https://newsroom.heart.org/news/tobacco-companies-ordered-to-place-statements-about-products-dangers-on-websites-and-cigarette-packs. Published May 1, 2018. Accessed May 17, 2018.
