"The government presented evidence from the 1950s and continuing through the following decades demonstrating that the defendant manufacturers were aware — increasingly so as they conducted more research — that smoking causes disease, including lung cancer," the appeals court wrote. "Evidence at trial revealed that at the same time defendants were disseminating advertisements, publications, and public statements denying any adverse health effects of smoking and promoting their 'open question' strategy of sowing doubt, they internally acknowledged as fact that smoking causes disease and other health hazards."
SHOOT: I'm not sure what's worse, companies who make money by selling death and cancer to their customers, and saying there's nothing wrong with it, or consumers who buy death and cancer and then blame these companies for selling it to them. And of course what's appalling is that you have a series of court cases where cigarette companies pontificate, and appeal ad infinitum. The law needs to get much stricter on this sort of corporate bullshit. And consumers need to wake the fuck up and start thinking for themselves.
WASHINGTON – A federal appeals court on Friday agreed with the major elements of a 2006 landmark ruling that found the nation's top tobacco companies guilty of racketeering and fraud for deceiving the public about the dangers of smoking.
The U.S. Court of Appeals in Washington upheld requirements that manufacturers change the way they market cigarettes. The requirements, which have been on hold pending appeal, would ban labels such as "low tar," "light," "ultra light" or "mild," since such cigarettes have been found to be no safer than others because of how people smoke them.
It also says the companies must publish "corrective statements" in newspapers and on their Web sites on the adverse health effects and addictiveness of smoking and nicotine.
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