It's official: Big tobacco lied

Seattle Times: Tobacco companies and their leaders for decades were liars and charlatans when it came to marketing their products, a federal judge ruled last week.
Hardly shattering news, but U.S. District Judge Gladys Kessler's ruling will force the eight defendants in the federal civil racketeering trial to tell the truth. No longer can they delude smokers into thinking they're making a healthier choice by buying cigarettes advertised as "low tar," "light," ultra light," "mild" or "natural." Kessler ruled Big Tobacco deliberately hid research while increasing the addictive nature of their cigarettes and scrambling to addict youths to grow their markets.
In the seven years since the Clinton administration initiated the case, the evidence of decades of callous behavior has become even more profound. The case followed the $246 billion multistate tobacco settlement brokered in 1999 by Gov. Chris Gregoire, then Washington's attorney general.
Light cigarettes
More people have quit smoking and some states, including Washington, have banned smoking in all public places. Young people still start smoking, and others try to do what they think will minimize their health risks by smoking light cigarettes.
The industry's denial is deep. In arguing against Washington's smoking ban last year, an initiative opponent sat in Seattle Times offices and suggested the jury was still out on the smoking-cancer connection. It was a stunning moment.
Several of the tobacco companies have vowed to appeal the ruling.
Kessler did not levy the $280 billion in penalties the Justice Department sought, citing a 2005 Appeals Court ruling and her own disappointment with the constraints on levying fines. The companies are on the hook to pay the government's $135 million in attorney fees.