Judge spells out “corrective statements”

A U.S. federal court has spelled out the “corrective statements” District Court Judge Gladys Kessler ordered tobacco companies to make in 2006 when she found them guilty of violating civil racketeering laws and engaging in fraud to deceive the American people about the health risks of smoking.

The order requires tobacco companies to make corrective statements about the adverse health effects of smoking and secondhand smoke, the addictiveness of nicotine, the lack of health benefits from smoking “light” and “low-tar” cigarettes, and the companies’ manipulation of cigarette design and composition to ensure optimum nicotine delivery.

The corrective statements must be made through newspaper and television advertising, on the companies’ web sites and on cigarette packaging.