Court-Ordered “Corrective Statements” To Begin Appearing on Cigarette Packages

Washington, D.C. – November 19, 2018 – Starting this week, the tobacco industry will finally be forced to disclose the truth about its deadly and addictive products directly on cigarette packages. These “corrective statements” will be affixed to cigarette packages and will state in plain-language that all cigarettes cause cancer, emphysema and heart disease, and that tobacco companies intentionally designed cigarettes with enough nicotine to, “create and sustain addiction.”

These statements, which have already appeared in national newspapers, on TV and on tobacco company websites, are the result of a nearly two-decade court battle between the U.S. Department of Justice and the tobacco industry. In 2006 a federal court found tobacco companies guilty of racketeering due to their decades of lying to the American public about smoking and its deadly health effects. The statements represent the first time tobacco companies will have to directly communicate with their consumers about the dangerous and addictive nature of their products.

The following is a statement from Chris Hansen, president of the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network (ACS CAN):

“Tobacco’s horrific toll is unfortunately no accident. For decades the tobacco industry has done everything in its power to avoid telling the American people the truth about tobacco use. We have fought hard to expose the industry’s campaign of lying to the American public and these corrective statements on cigarette packages finally force tobacco companies to come clean and communicate the lethal consequences of tobacco use directly to their consumers.

“The American Cancer Society, along with other public health partners, is proud to be an intervenor in the lawsuit that is forcing this action. Aggressively working to ensure the public knows the truth about the tobacco industry’s deadly deception is important, but it is only one part of the solution to reduce tobacco use.

“ACS CAN will continue to push for strong regulatory oversight of all tobacco products and access to evidence-based tobacco intervention and cessation strategies. While we’ve seen meaningful progress in our fight against tobacco use, new evidence points to the tobacco industry working to hook a new generation of users to its deadly products. After decades of deception and millions of lives lost, we cannot let that happen.”