Big Tobacco companies are finally being forced to cough up

Starting today, some of the largest United States tobacco companies have been ordered by a Federal Court to widely publish Corrective Statements in the American media over a period of 12 months.

This follows nearly two decades of legal action in the US.

To coincide with the commencement of the court-ordered advertising in the US, Make Smoking History and Cancer Council WA have launched a campaign to inform Western Australians that in the US, tobacco companies are being forced to admit the health effects of their products and that they intentionally designed cigarettes to enhance the delivery of nicotine.

More specifically, the campaign includes several important corrective statements that relate to the adverse health effects of smoking and exposure to secondhand smoke, and highlights corrective court-ordered messages such as:

‘More people die every year from smoking than from murder, AIDS, suicide, drugs, car crashes, and alcohol, combined.’
‘Cigarette companies control the impact and delivery of nicotine in many ways, including designing filters and selecting cigarette paper to maximize the ingestion of nicotine, adding ammonia to make the cigarette taste less harsh, and controlling the physical and chemical make-up of the tobacco blend.’

Make Smoking History and Cancer Council WA believe that Western Australians deserve to know what the US tobacco companies are required to say in the American media.