Wow, these smokers are really adament about fighting to keep their right to smoke. The fight is about truth in advertising. Obviously, if one is already addicted to cigarettes, they believe it is their right to smoke. The concentration should be on the untruthful marketing to young people. When you label something as light, you make a false implication that it is safer than regular cigarettes. Fewer carcinogens do not prevent you from getting cancer. Smoking any kind of cigarette is dangerous and it kills. Yes, we are all going to die, but what quality of life do you want to have? Do you want to have to walk around with an oxygen tank? Or have an artificial voice because of destroying your larynx? Or a hole in your neck because you can no longer breathe through your mouth?...........Wow. How many of these comments are posted by someone who has in investment in the tobacco industry I wonder?
Snuffed Out
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If this is all true, shouldn't the tobacco companies be ordered to stop selling these so-called "light" cigarettes straightaway?
In 2006 U.S. District Judge Gladys Kessler ruled that the tobacco industry had deceived smokers for decades, violating the federal antiracketeering law. She also ordered that companies stop using the terms "light" and "ultra lights" on cigarette packs. And not only in their U.S. marketing but in all of their sales worldwide. I testified as an expert witness for the Department of Justice in that lawsuit. It was a monumental decision by Judge Kessler.
And? Did the tobacco companies comply?
They've fought the verdict tooth and nail. They went to the appeals court and asked to stay Judge Kessler's ruling until the full appeal could be heard. [Both the tobacco companies and the Justice Department have sought further appellate review of Kessler's decision.]
How does the new information on "light" cigarettes relate to earlier lawsuits and settlements?
In 1998 there was a landmark settlement called the Tobacco Master Settlement Agreement (MSA). This was exclusively between the state governments and the big tobacco companies. In exchange for an overall stop in civil litigations, the industry promised to compensate the states for Medicare and Medicaid money spent on tobacco-related diseases. The industry settled for a $240 billion figure, paid out over 25 to 30 years. So the states have received a good deal of money since. But they have spent it on whatever they wanted, at their discretion—unfortunately, very rarely on tobacco control and tobacco cessation policies. And the tobacco industry passed on a lot of those costs to consumers by raising the price of tobacco. Many people felt that after the MSA there would be radical changes in the marketing of tobacco. But the current case of "light" cigarettes shows that the tobacco industry remains healthy and aggressive in the promotion of its products that cause death and disease.
So what other steps could be taken?
The FDA could be granted authority to aggressively regulate tobacco products. This proposal is currently being discussed in a congressional committee. But the question is, will these regulations really help the public? In the past, attempts at regulation have actually benefited the industry. Take the Tobacco Labeling Act of 1984. This was when the four rotating warning labels on cigarette packs were first required by Congress. That was widely seen as a public health intervention. But we now know that industry actually supported these mild and ineffective labels, as they would potentially protect them from liability. It would enable them to say in court, "Forewarned is forearmed. The packages are labeled, so if you're harmed, it's not our responsibility."
If those warning labels actually benefit the industry more than public health, why don't we get rid of them?
I don't think we should get rid of them. We should have other warning signs instead. It has been shown in other countries that very graphic pictorial labeling does work. It discourages kids from starting smoking and encourages addicted smokers to quit. In Canada, Brazil, Thailand and the U.K. they have these very dramatic labels, which show diseased lungs, gangrenous limbs and other diseases that have been associated with cigarette smoking—a little bit like the pictures of killed fetuses that pro-life activists use. Also, they cover a significant portion of the pack. U.S. labels have not changed since 1984. Our labels are widely viewed as diluted and ineffective, especially if you compare them to the labels in other countries.
What will be the fate of "light" cigarettes?
I think that in one or two years light cigarettes will no longer exist in the U.S. While on the litigation front the U.S. has been quite innovative, Congress has been relatively weak and not particularly effective. But legislators are becoming increasingly aware of the hypocrisy of the industry when it claims that it is acting responsibly. In previous decades the industry had tremendous clout in Congress. But this kind of special-interest lobbying and manipulation of legislation is getting problematic in an age when science has determined just how harmful cigarette smoking is.
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