Can you imagine a tobacco company not only admitting that smoking and secondhand smoke cause disease, but admitting that they lied about it for decades? How about tobacco executives “seeing the light” and renouncing the sale of a product that, when used as they intend, kills? Okay, that last one can be filed with the Easter Bunny and Santa Clause, but later this year, look for some odd messages in newspapers, online and on television.
A U.S. district court has ordered tobacco companies to issue and to pay for “corrective statements” in order to rectify decades of lying and manipulation. I won’t get into whether this actually makes up for tens of millions of avoidable deaths (or homicides, if you like). But the statements are pretty damning.
They are still fighting over the when, but here is what you will see:
1.) Adverse Health Effects of Smoking
A Federal Court has ruled that the Defendant tobacco companies deliberately deceived the American public about the health effects of smoking and has ordered those companies to make this statement. Here is the truth:
- Smoking kills, on average, 1200 Americans. Every day.
- More people die every year from smoking than from murder, AIDS, suicide, drugs, car crashes, and alcohol: combined.
- Smoking causes heart disease, emphysema, acute myeloid leukemia, and cancer of the mouth, esophagus, larynx, lung, stomach, kidney, bladder, and pancreas.
- Smoking also causes reduced fertility, low birth weight in newborns, and cancer of the cervix and uterus.
Stay tuned for Part 2 of “Tobacco companies can tell the truth, but only when forced” and see what the tobacco companies must publicly admit about the Addictiveness of Smoking and Nicotine.
