WASHINGTON, D.C. May 23, 2012 The American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network (ACS CAN) is challenging Altria Group, Inc., the largest tobacco manufacturer in the country, to provide proof of the company 's claims in recent advertising that it markets its deadly products responsibly, despite the tobacco industry 's decades-long history of deceiving the public. ACS CAN, the advocacy affiliate of the American Cancer Society, sent a letter today to Altria CEO Martin Barrington demanding proof that Altria engages in responsible marketing practices, and evidence of the effectiveness of those efforts. Your company and your industry bear no small responsibility for the toll of disease and death caused by tobacco in this country, wrote Chris Hansen, president of ACS CAN. You indeed have a moral responsibility to be clear and transparent about how your products are marketed and the horrific damage they cause in the form of human casualties, which exceed 440,000 per year in this country, and untold billions of dollars in health care costs, lost productivity and related expenditures borne by families, businesses, and state governments. ACS CAN sent the letter in response to a recent Altria advertisement, featuring the headline Recognizing Our Responsibilities, which targeted members of Congress. In the ad, which ran in the Capitol Hill publication Roll Call last month, Altria claims that it markets its products responsibly and that we take our responsibilities seriously. To be frank, the ad ignores Philip Morris ' massive advertising and promotional expenditures to perpetuate the habit of smoking, as well as the company 's ongoing efforts to oppose anti-smoking public health initiatives across the country while obfuscating its role in such efforts, Hansen wrote. While Altria tries to convince federal lawmakers that it is a responsible corporate citizen, the company and its subsidiaries, including Phillip Morris USA, disguise their direct role in opposing proven tobacco control measures such as California Proposition 29, which would raise the tobacco tax by $1 and fund lifesaving cancer research in the state while saving tens of thousands of lives from smoking. Altria and its subsidiaries have poured nearly $27 million into the effort to defeat Proposition 29, which will appear on the June 5 ballot. The tobacco industry and its allies have funded front groups with names such as Californians Against Unaccountable Taxes as a means of hiding their efforts from the public. Recognizing Our Responsibilities is a slogan that rings hollow to the 440,000 people in the United States who lose their lives to tobacco-related illnesses every year, and to the millions of American families who have seen loved ones sickened and killed by tobacco-caused disease. People with cancer and their families demand the truth from a company that has spent years misleading the public about its deadly products. Full text of the letter: http://bit.ly/KJMk2i. ACS CAN, the nonprofit, nonpartisan advocacy affiliate of the American Cancer Society, supports evidence-based policy and legislative solutions designed to eliminate cancer as a major health problem. ACS CAN works to encourage elected officials and candidates to make cancer a top national priority. ACS CAN gives ordinary people extraordinary power to fight cancer with the training and tools they need to make their voices heard. For more information, visit www.fightcancer.org. FOR MORE INFORMATION, CONTACT: Lauren Walens or Steven Weiss American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network Phone: (202) 661-5763 or (202) 661-5711 Email: [email protected] or [email protected] #tobacco #Altria #cancer #lungcancer #ACSCAN #smoking #California #Prop29