Tobacco companies seek to end ads that incriminate them

Associated Press

WASHINGTON

America’s biggest tobacco companies asked a federal appeals court Monday to set aside a series of court- ordered advertisements saying they lied about the dangers of smoking.

The companies told a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit that they’re ready and willing to pass along factual public-health information about cigarettes but said they won’t go along with being forced to underwrite an ad campaign that would have the companies brand themselves as liars.

The statements imply “that we’re still engaged in aspects of wrongdoing ... [and] that we do things that we don’t do,” Miguel Estrada, an attorney representing the tobacco companies, told the panel.

In 2006, U.S. District Judge Gladys Kessler ordered the largest cigarette makers to publicly admit that they had lied for decades about the dangers of smoking. The ruling came after testimony from 162 witnesses, a nine-month bench trial and thousands of findings by the judge that defendants engaged in a massive campaign of fraud.

Kessler required the companies to publicly address smoking’s adverse health effects, nicotine manipulation and the health impact of secondhand smoke. The judge also required that the companies address the truth about “light” and “low tar” brands and the nature of cigarette addiction.